Stećci, the medieval tombstones of Durmitor

Stećci are one of those things that never make it onto the Montenegro postcards, and to me they’re among the most interesting sights in the north. They’re medieval stone tombstones, some shaped like slabs, some like chests, some like little gabled houses, scattered across mountain meadows, and UNESCO listed them in 2016 as a site shared by four countries. Three of its graveyards are here, around Durmitor.

What they are and why they’re World Heritage

UNESCO describes them as monolithic tombstones, almost always limestone, carved between the late 12th century and the 16th, with their heyday in the 14th and 15th. It reckons more than 70,000 survive at over 3,300 sites, and the listed site brings together a selection of around 4,000 in 28 graveyards across Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia.

What strikes me most is what UNESCO says about who used them. All three medieval Christian communities in the area buried their dead under stećci, the Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church and the Church of Bosnia. The carvings range from pure decoration to scenes from everyday life, and the inscriptions are a first-rate historical source for the region’s medieval states. The Žabljak tourist board adds that the listing was approved on 15 July 2016, at the committee session in Istanbul.

The two graveyards in Žabljak

Two of Montenegro’s three components are in Žabljak municipality. Grčko groblje, the Greek graveyard, as old necropolises like this are called locally, is at Novakovići, on the northern corner of Riblje lake, close to Vražje. The tourist board puts Vražje about 12 km from Žabljak. Bare Žugića is a couple of kilometres further on, in open meadows that, for me, make up the prettiest landscape on the plateau.

National Parks adds that around Durmitor National Park there are more necropolises with 14th and 15th century stećci, at Novakovići, Bare Žugića, Baćevnik, Tepca, Begova ravan and Boričje, and that the most interesting carry reliefs of human and animal figures and hunting scenes.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Žabljak before prices climb.

Plužine and Šavnik

The third component is another Grčko groblje, in Plužine municipality. UNESCO’s coordinates put it near Brijeg, in the north of the municipality, and at 0.05 hectares it’s the smallest of the three.

Outside the UNESCO list there are plenty more. The tourist board in Šavnik counts 112 stećci in its municipality and picks out two places. At Gornja Bijela, some were reused as building blocks for a church, and at Pošćenje there are at least six around the church and another fifteen or sixteen set into the base of its walls.

How to see them

The graveyards are open-air, in meadows beside villages, and neither UNESCO nor the tourist boards publish opening times or prices. The easiest way to see them is by car along the road past the Vražje and Riblje lakes, or on the 38 km circular cycle route National Parks suggests between Žabljak, Njegovuđa, Bare Žugića and Vražje. Treat them with respect, as they’re graves, and UNESCO lists natural weathering of the stone among the main pressures on them.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Stećci tombstones and choose by the reviews.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Žabljak before prices climb.