50 Fun Facts About Montenegro

What is the capital and largest city of Montenegro?

The Old Royal Capital, seat of the president, is a different town.

Montenegro's coastline lies on which sea?

Its coastal towns include Kotor, Budva, Herceg Novi and Ulcinj.

What does the name Montenegro literally mean?

It is a Venetian rendering of Crna Gora, after the dark forests of Mount Lovćen.

Which of these countries does NOT border Montenegro?

Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo complete the list of neighbours.

Montenegro declared independence in June 2006 following what?

The vote for independence narrowly cleared the 55 percent threshold set by the European Union.

What share of the vote did independence win in the May 2006 ballot?

That was just above the 55 percent bar required to validate the result.

Before 2006, Montenegro was in a state union with which country?

The Belgrade Agreement of 2003 had loosened the old Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Which military alliance did Montenegro join on 5 June 2017?

A Russian-linked coup plot had tried to derail the accession in October 2016.

What currency does Montenegro use, despite not being in the eurozone?

It first adopted the German mark unilaterally in the late 1990s and switched to the euro afterwards.

Montenegro's independence was recognised by the Great Powers at which 1878 gathering?

It followed Russia's victory over the Ottomans in the war of 1877-78.

Montenegro became a kingdom in which year?

Nicholas I, who reigned from 1860 to 1918, was its only king.

Which dynasty ruled Montenegro from 1696, first as prince-bishops and later as secular princes?

Their seat was the old royal capital in the mountains.

What was the title of Montenegro's ruling prince-bishops?

Montenegro became a theocracy under them in 1515.

Prince-Bishop Petar II, known simply as Njegoš, is celebrated for which epic poem?

Gorski vijenac is regarded as the national epic of Montenegro and its neighbours.

Which Italian republic controlled the Bay of Kotor and much of the coast from 1392 until 1797?

Budva was known as Budua under Venetian rule.

The Crnojević family's Zeta fell to whom in 1496?

It had been the last free monarchy in the Balkans.

Before the Slavs arrived, the region was inhabited mainly by which ancient people?

Rome absorbed their kingdom into the province of Illyricum.

Some historians credit Montenegro with what event on 13 July 1941?

Within a week 32,000 men and women had joined the fight against the Italian occupiers.

From 1946 to 1992, Podgorica bore what name?

It honoured Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito.

Which politician dominated Montenegro for three decades after Yugoslavia broke up?

OCCRP named him 'Person of the Year in Organized Crime' in 2015.

Who defeated the long-serving incumbent in the 2023 presidential run-off?

He came from the pro-Western Europe Now movement.

Which peak was confirmed in 2018 as Montenegro's highest, at 2,534 metres?

Bobotov Kuk, at 2,522 m, had previously been thought the highest.

Bobotov Kuk, long thought to be Montenegro's highest point, lies in which mountain range?

Durmitor National Park, founded in 1952, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Tara River gorge is notable as what?

Nicknamed the Tear of Europe, it reaches 1,300 metres deep.

Which lake on the Montenegro-Albania border is the largest in Southern Europe?

One shore is a national park; the Albanian side is a Ramsar wetland.

The walled port of Kotor was known by what name under Venetian rule?

Its fortifications were added to UNESCO's Venetian Works of Defence listing in 2017.

Which mountains plunge into the Bay of Kotor at the northern end of the coastal plain?

Lovćen's dark forests gave the whole country its name.

Sveti Stefan, the island resort near Budva, was converted by the Yugoslav government from what?

The remaining villagers were moved to the mainland and celebrities from Sophia Loren to Marilyn Monroe checked in.

Which hotel group reopened Sveti Stefan as a five-star resort in 2009?

Aman took over the island resort in 2008-09; the nearby Villa Miločer was the summer residence of Queen Marija of Yugoslavia.

What is the official language of Montenegro?

Serbian is nonetheless the most spoken language, and the two are mutually intelligible.

About 90 percent of Montenegro's Christian believers belong to which church?

A 2019 law on church property sparked months of protest walks organised by it.

Montenegro's men's team won the 2008 European Championship in which sport?

They came fourth at the 2016 Olympics.

Montenegro's first Olympic medal, a silver in 2012, came from which team?

They finished runners-up at the London Games.

How many municipalities does Montenegro have?

They hold a total population of about 633,000.

What is the main colour of the flag of Montenegro?

The coat of arms with its double-headed eagle sits in the centre; the flag was adopted in 2004.

The Old Royal Capital of Montenegro, home to the president's official residence, is which town?

The annual assembly of clans was traditionally held there on 12 July.

What is Montenegro's main seaport?

The Belgrade-Bar railway is the backbone of the rail network.

At the 1858 Battle of Grahovac, Montenegro's Grand Duke Mirko Petrović defeated which empire's army?

The victory forced the Great Powers to demarcate Montenegro's borders.

Montenegro's first constitution of 1855 is known by what name?

A fuller constitution was drafted in 1905.

During World War I, King Nicholas fled and set up a government-in-exile in which French city?

Austria-Hungary occupied Montenegro from 1916 to October 1918.

The breakaway national Orthodox church split from the Serbian church in which year?

It is not recognised by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and follows about a tenth of the country's Orthodox believers.

Which nine-region unit of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia included Montenegro from 1929?

It stretched as far as the Neretva River.

The capital sits at the confluence of the Morača and which other river?

The city's medieval name was Ribnica.

Which medieval principality in southern Montenegro won independence from Byzantium in 1042?

It later became recognised as a kingdom and was succeeded by Zeta as the name for the realm by the 13th century.

Montenegro's name comes from the dark evergreen forests covering which mountain?

The English name is a translation of a Venetian calque of Crna Gora, and a national park around the mountain was created in 1952.

How long is Montenegro's Adriatic coastline?

Only 72 km of it is beach, including Jaz, Mogren, Bečići and Velika Plaža, but National Geographic Traveler lists the country among its 50 Places of a Lifetime.

Which international railway crosses the mountains of Durmitor National Park?

The line is the backbone of Montenegro's rail network and its main international link, running to the port of Bar.

Which Montenegrin national park is recognised as a UNESCO biosphere reserve?

At just 54 square kilometres it is one of the country's smallest parks, protecting an ancient forest.

In which year was Kotor's Cathedral of Saint Tryphon built?

The town's ancient walls stretch 4.5 km directly above the city, and Emperor Justinian had fortified the site as early as 535.

Which animal has become a symbol of Kotor, with its own museum and square in the old town?

Locals leave water, food and cardboard boxes around the city for the large population, and Trg od mačaka is named after them.