Forte Mare

Opening hours and tickets

The fortress is run by JUK Herceg Fest, the town's cultural institution, which keeps the same hours and prices at Kanli Kula at the top of the Old Town, and announces each change of hours; the two make a natural pair.

What to see

• The oldest fabric. A short wall on the south-east and a narrow stair on the east are all that survive from the first, Bosnian-period fortress.
• The Sea Gate on the upper side, which keeps fortification elements from the Bosnian period.
• The spring and Šantić's plaque. At the foot of the fortress is the spring that the Holy League forces cut off in 1687, in the siege that ended Ottoman rule; a marble plaque above it carries verses by the poet Aleksa Šantić.
• The terraces over the water, with the view along the Herceg Novi shore to the mouth of the bay.
• The summer cinema, in the fortress since 1952: open-air screenings on summer evenings for more than six decades.

History

Forte Mare belongs to the first town on this shore, founded by the Bosnian king Tvrtko I in 1382 as Sveti Stefan. Each power that held Herceg Novi rebuilt it. The Ottomans, who ruled the town from 1482 to 1687, carried out the largest reconstruction and gave the fortress the dimensions it has today. Venice, which took the town in 1687, restored it in the 17th century and gave it its present name. Austria-Hungary worked on it in the 19th century, using cement here for the first time in 1833, and the silhouette a visitor sees from the promenade is largely the Austrian one. In 1952 the interior was adapted as a summer stage, and the fortress has been the town's open-air cinema since.

Forte Mare is not on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Montenegro's part of the 2017 inscription of the Venetian Works of Defence is Kotor.

Getting there

The fortress is on the waterfront below the Old Town; the Pet Danica shore promenade runs past it, and from the town centre it is about 800 m (9 minutes) on foot down through the Old Town or along the shore. Drive times without traffic to Herceg Novi: Igalo 3.6 km, about 7 minutes; Tivat 23 km, about 40 minutes; Kotor 33.1 km, about 53 minutes. Parking in the town is in zones; the garage and the zone prices are on the Herceg Novi page.

Nearby

• Kanli Kula, at the top of the Old Town, same hours and ticket.
• Clock tower, the Old Town gate.
• Monument to King Tvrtko I, on Škver, the harbour square below the fortress.
• Španjola fortress on the hill above the town.
• Herceg Novi town museum.