Petnjica

Key facts

Getting there

Petnjica has no railway, no border crossing and no published bus timetable. The nearest station on the Bar-Bijelo Polje railway is in Bijelo Polje, and the train guide covers it. By car, Berane is 17 km away; the times below are free-flow routing, without snow or road works, so check the road conditions in winter.

The mosque and the Bihor rugs

The Petnjica mosque has three storeys and hand-carved wooden pillars, and it keeps a large collection of rugs from different periods; the municipal coat of arms shows it as a 16th-century mosque, beside the fortress where the town began, the Radman gorge and the Petnjica basin with the river Popča and its four tributaries. The Bihor rug (ćilim) is the craft of the area, once used in sworn brotherhoods, marriage arrangements and the handing down of an inheritance. Visiting hours and rules for the mosque are not published; ask locally.

The Radman gorge and the Turin site

In the gorge above Radmanci, a village of 380 people, lies Turin, a prehistoric site with a walled cave known locally as Jerina's Cave (Jerinina pećina). Finds include arrowheads, bronze coins, iron tools, pottery, a 5,000-year-old female figure and a house set half a metre into the ground; they are kept in the Polimski muzej in Berane, so the museum is the place to see them. The path and access rules are not published; other caves are on the caves page. On the Popča, Bratimin vir is a pool with a local legend of treasure hidden in a cave beside it.

Practical information

• Municipality: Ul. Centar III br. 11, Monday-Friday 08:00-16:00 (customers until 14:00), +382 51 248 208, info@opstina-petnjica.me. There is no tourist office; Berane is the nearest larger base.
• Post office: 84312 Petnjica, Petnjica bb, 08:00-14:30.
• Pharmacy and health: Montefarm, in the health station, Monday-Friday 07:00-15:00, Saturday 08:00-13:00; see pharmacies. Ambulance 124; the nearest hospital is in Berane (hospitals).
• Cash: an Erste ATM at Centar 1C and a bank counter with an ATM on Crnogorsko-turskog prijateljstva; see ATMs and banks.
• Languages: of residents aged 15 and over, 13.74% know English and 9.05% German; the municipality has a large diaspora in Germany, Luxembourg and Turkey.
• Stay and eat: no official list of accommodation or restaurants is published.

History in brief

The Bihor area has been settled since prehistory, as the finds at Turin show. Ottoman rule began in the 15th century and lasted more than four centuries, a time when the villages, farming, herding and trade took shape, and the area became part of Montenegro in 1912. Petnjica was a municipality from 1945 to 1957, then part of Berane municipality, and became one again under a law in force from 19 June 2013. The municipal day, 4 August, marks the day of the municipal referendum and is celebrated with a concert in the centre; the municipality gives its 4. avgust award on the same day. The largest villages are Gornja Vrbica (945 residents), Trpezi (690), Lagatori (406) and Radmanci (380).

Questions

How far is Petnjica from Berane?

17 km, about 25 minutes by car.

What is the postcode of Petnjica?

84312.

How many people live in Petnjica?

518 in the town and 4,957 in the municipality at the 2023 census.

When did Petnjica become a municipality?

Under a law in force from 19 June 2013; it had been a municipality before, from 1945 to 1957.

Is this the Petnjica in Šavnik municipality?

No. This page covers the municipal seat in Bihor; a hamlet of the same name lies in Šavnik municipality.