Guidebook for Kotor

The Old Town – that is the most famous part of Kotor, where the Kotor history, culture, and tradition are being preserved. The Old Town of Kotor has a great number of monuments of the medieval architecture: churches, cathedrals, palaces, and museums. Its beauty is complemented with the multitude of narrow streets, squares, and markets. It stands out also by the great number of stylishly made gates, palaces of the wealthy families, and a great number of stairs. The old nucleus of Kotor today is considered to be the best preserved medieval urban entity in the Mediterranean. The largest and the most impressive are, by all means, city bulwarks which surround the town. They are about 5 km long, 20, high, and about 10 m wide. Bring completely preserved, they are a unique sample of the fortification architecture in Europe. The beginning of their construction started in the IX century, in order for them to be added onto and arranged for the next 10 centuries. Bulwarks have 3 doors, through which for centuries people have come in and out of the town. From whichever door that you go into the town, the road will bring you to the most famous edifice – cathedral St. Tryphon from the XII century, which is dedicated to the protector of the town – St. Tryphon. There are several squares in the town and the main, and the biggest city square is Trg od Oruzja (Square of arms). That square was and remained the main place for gathering. Various gatherings happened there, and it was the place where people from Kotor assembled. Cultural richness of Kotor is made priceless by its treasury which hides some significant cultural monuments like: Tower watch (VIII century), Cathedral of St. Tryphon (XII century), Church of St. Luka (XII century), Prince’s palace (XVII century), Church of St. Marija (XII century), Church of Lady of Health (XV century), and Napoleon’s Theater (XIX century). Old Kotor has also numerous palaces like: Bizanti, Buca, Pima, Grgurin, in which today is Maritime Museum. In the Old Town in Kotor, we have the first Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management, as well as some music halls, Centre for culture, galleries etc. In the old town we have the greatest number of boutiques and trade shops. There are also some smaller shops and stores that offer footwear and clothes of the renowned European and world designers and creators. Except the boutiques and clothes stores, in the old town we also have a great number of souvenir shops, photo shops, jewellery shops, bookstores, antique shops, hair dressing saloons, beauty centres, barber shops, cafés, pizzerias, etc. If you decide to spend the entire day touring the old town, you will not make a mistake, because beside the research and getting to know with the town you can get refreshment in some of the numerous Kotor cafés. They are mostly found on Kotor squares. The old town of Kotor has also a large number of nicely decorated restaurants and hotels. In them you can try traditional specialties, as well as different Mediterranean food. The most important thing of all is to mention that the Old Town of Kotor is on the list of the UNESCO world cultural inheritance, since 1979. From the same named institution Kotor was recently declared the world cultural inheritance in danger, so in the following period numerous European and world cultural institutions will give it even bigger attention.