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The natural and cultural historic region of Kotor
The Kotor natural, cultural and historical region is composed of an unusually harmonious blend of natural and man-made phenomena. It includes part of the Gulf of Kotor (Boka Kotorska), where it is narrowest (340 meters) and cuts most deeply into the mainland (33 km). Originally, this part of the gulf was a river valley, tectonically sunken and flooded, and its morphological characteristics (marked vertical segmentation) make it unique in the Mediterranean. It belongs to the Dinaric zone of the holokarst (deep seated rocks), and the area surrounding the gulf and its hinterland exhibit the most typical types of karstic formation and karstic hygrography.
The area of the
region amounts to 12 000 hectares, 2 600 of which are covered by the
sea. The exceptionally favorable and unusual climatic, morphological,
hydrographical and hydrological conditions, together with the abundance
and variety of flora and fauna, have been decisive factors regarding
the settlement of this area and the construction of towns and villages
of a particular type. As a result we find here a unique harmony between
the works of nature and those of mankind.
The towns and villages which make up the Kotor region form ten
characteristic complexes which are linked in an almost uninterrupted
chain: Dobrota, Orahovac, Risan, Perast, Morinj, Kostanjica, Stoliv
(Upper and Lower), Prcanj, Muo and Skaljari.
Replacing the ancient Roman site of Risan, which, until the present
day, has preserved traces of large buildings, inscriptions and mosaics
from Roman villas, Kotor became during the Middle Ages the center of
the region.
The city of Kotor
is surrounded by the protective ramparts which descend from the top of
the Mount of St. Ivan (260 meters), skirting the two short streams,
Skurda and Gurdic, with their movable bridges and embankment. This
continuous system of fortifications, which follows for about 5 km the
irregular line of the steeply sloping range of hills, is, strategically
and aesthetically, the most important and impressive part of the town
setting. Of thirty churches, recorded or still standing in the old
town, four belonging to the Romanesque period are particularly
important (St. Luka’s, 1195; St. Anna’s, probably
1195; St. Mary of the River, 1221; St. Michael’s, 1266) aside
from the Cathedral of St. Tryphon (1166).
A distinctive feature of the old town's urban nucleus is a cluster of
twelve squares of varying size whose irregular beauty provides relief
from the narrow, closed-in, winding streets. These squares had a
specific purpose; the largest and architecturally best designed is the
“Square of Arms” near the main gates of the Town
(the Medieval Arsenal), where a series of impressive edifices are to be
found: the Medieval “Turris Torturae”, the
“Clock Tower” of 1602, also the
“Prince’s Place”, unfinished, in
Renaissance-Baroque style.
The typical vaulted shops with “jointed” entrance
doors bear witness to Kotor’s importance as a center for
craftsmanship. The exceptional artistic value of the marble altars,
icons and other paintings, sculptures, silverware, elegant ecclesiastic
robes, as well as fragment of frescos that have been preserved, must
also be stressed.
During the 17th and 18th century, Kotor lost its economic
lead, eclipsed by the surrounding maritime settlements, especially
Perast, Dobrota, Prcanj and Stoliv which nevertheless remained in close
contact with the administrative and cultural center. Each settlement
took on its own urban and cultural personality, at the same time
maintaining the unity and continuity of the regional cultural heritage.
Religious architecture developed, imbued with styles characteristic of
this period, while in the field of secular architecture the houses of
Boka transmute into local forms of Western Mediterranean and, to a
certain extent, Oriental influences. Elegant palaces for the nobility
are prominent features of this secular architecture, particularly in
Perast, Prcanj and Dobrota.