Religion in Montenegro: census, places of worship and holidays

Montenegro is one of those countries where, in a single day, you can visit an Orthodox monastery cut into a cliff, an Ottoman mosque and a Catholic church on an islet. Here’s what the census says about religion, without any judgement, and which places I’d visit from each tradition.

What people declare

The 2023 census asks each person about religion, and answering is voluntary. 71.1% declared themselves Orthodox, 443,394 people. 19.99% gave Islam, 124,668 people, and 3.27% Catholicism, 20,408. On top of that there are 3,547 from other Christian denominations, 14,260 atheists, 2,524 agnostics and 13,093 who preferred not to say.

The National Tourism Organisation describes Montenegro as multi-religious and multi-ethnic, and that’s how I treat it in this guide. The figures are given as they are, without interpretation, just like those on communities and languages in Montenegro’s population.

Orthodox monasteries

The Orthodox tradition is the one you notice most in the landscape. Ostrog, at about 900 m above the Zeta valley, is, according to the National Tourism Organisation, one of the most visited places in the Orthodox world, with cave churches and 17th-century frescoes, reached by pilgrims on a 3 km climb through the woods. The Cetinje Monastery was for centuries the seat of both civil and religious power, and the National Parks note that five of the seven Petrović rulers were heads of both state and church. All the monasteries, by municipality, are in monasteries in Montenegro.

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Mosques of the north

Up north is the mosque that interests me most, Husein Pasha in Pljevlja, from the 16th century, with a 42 m minaret, a 400 kg carpet commissioned in Egypt around 1573 and a 16th-century handwritten Quran, according to the National Tourism Organisation. Further east, the National Parks highlight the old mosque in Plav, from the 15th century, and the Vizier’s Mosque in Gusinje, from the 18th. Pljevlja is covered in the Husein Pasha Mosque.

Churches on islets and in mountain valleys

The best-known Catholic church is Our Lady of the Rocks, on its islet off Perast, which the National Tourism Organisation describes as a Catholic church with a museum. At the other end of the country, the National Parks point out the 12th-century Church of the Holy Trinity at Brezojevica, near Plav, and St George’s in Gusinje, near the Vizier’s Mosque. Article 14 of the constitution sets the framework, with religious communities separate from the state and equal to each other.

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Holidays and coexistence

The National Tourism Organisation says Orthodox Christmas (6 and 7 January), Easter and Bajram are non-working days for those who celebrate them. It also gives an example of coexistence, the procession carrying the cross of St John Vladimir up Mount Rumija, above Bar, on Trinity Sunday. How those dates affect opening hours is in Montenegro public holidays.

I haven’t come across official dress rules for visiting places of worship. My own approach is the usual one, shoulders and knees covered, voices down and asking before taking photos inside.

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