25/01/2017
TOURIST GUIDE: The old town of Bar in Montenegro - 15 km from MileS Apartments 🇲🇪
Old Bar is not like other coastal towns - it is situated on the coast, but away from the sea about 4 km. There were several reasons for such sets, among which stand out in particular the existence of living water and the relief of the terrain. The oldest triangular part of the city was surrounded by walls, the remains of which still exist today. To the east and south sides of the city is protected by rugged cliffs, which were partly secured by defensive walls, while along the northwest side of the city was surrounded by walls.
The old town of Bar is the largest urban agglomeration of ruins in Montenegro. At about four hectares of area that includes the city identified 250 buildings with different purposes: residential, public, religious, war... In the Middle Ages the city expanded to the northwest, and built new walls with entrance gate. Within the city walls there is relatively regular network of streets, and it is assumed that the main square in front of the Cathedral of St. George formed on the site of the former Forum. Shifting some streets was completely altered by the raising of new buildings, and some are completely buried in the collapsed walls.
The old town has preserved a dozen churches, mostly in ruins. Among them stand out the remains of the magnificent cathedral of St. George, followed by Saint Nicholas (or St. Mark's Square) from the XIII century Church of St. Veneranda from the XIV-XV century and the church of St. Catherine from the XIV century. The present church of St. John Vladimir, which was completely reconstructed in 1927, is likely the medieval church of St. Peter referred to the year 1247.
Among the many facilities of residential, public and religious architecture in the city there are several significant architectural achievements which, in the construction and design, belong to different architectural styles and concepts - from the Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance, to the Balkan-oriental. After the earthquake in 1979, extensive systematic research were carried out, and a number of buildings has been reconstructed and repaired.
Fortress in the old town of Bar is the only monument of first category in the Municipality of Bar.
HISTORY: In the Early Middle Ages, Antivari (Latin: Antibarium) remained a subject of the Byzantine Empire, as part of the Theme of Dyrrhacium. Stefan Vojislav, incorporated it into his state in c. 1040, and his family till 1090, after which it became part of the medieval Serbian state culminating in the Empire under the Nemanjić dynasty. It was briefly annexed by the Republic of Venice. About 1360, the Balšić family of Zeta gained control of Bar as the Serbian Empire crumbled, after which Louis I of Hungary controlled Bar briefly before it was annexed by Venice again in 1443. Bar remained under the rule of Venice until it was taken by the Ottoman Empire in 1571 as part of the Ottoman expansion into Europe.
On 13 November 1877, during the Montenegrin–Ottoman War (1876–78), the town was besieged by forces under the command of Mašo Vrbica. The defenses of the town were in the hands of Ibrahim Bey, who refused to surrender the town despite the Montenegrin heavy artillery bombardment, consisting of four Russian guns, and six Ottoman guns that had been seized at the Battle of Nikšić. The bombardment lasted over seven weeks and much of the town was destroyed. On 5 January 1878, the Montenegrins detonated a 225 kg explosive inside the Bar Aqueduct which cut off the town's water supply. Ibrahim Bey surrendered the town on 9 January. The Bar peninsula and the town were awarded to the newly recognized Principality of Montenegro at the Congress of Berlin (1878).
After the 1979 Montenegro earthquake destroyed the aqueduct that supplied water to the town, the location was abandoned, and the new town of Bar constructed on the coast at the old port facilities. After the aqueduct was restored some years later, people began to return.
