Lovćenska vila (Monument to the volunteers drowned off Medova)

The monument

The monument is about 10 m high. A pyramid-shaped pedestal carries a tall rectangular column clad in stone, and on top stands the bronze figure of a heroine, the vila of the name, holding a sword in her right hand and a laurel wreath in her left. Three bronze narrative reliefs are set into the column. The date of the Medova tragedy is cut into the front; the inscription on the back reads "Potopljenim dobrovoljcima pod Medovom podigoše Jugosloveni iz Amerike i Kanade 1939" (To the volunteers drowned off Medova, raised by Yugoslavs from America and Canada, 1939). The monument was conserved and restored in 2010, when the stone cladding of the pyramid and pedestal was replaced and the bronzes were cleaned, and it is in good condition.

The Medova tragedy

In the First World War Montenegrin emigrants in the United States answered the call to come home and fight; close to 500 set out. On the morning of 6 January 1916, Orthodox Christmas Eve, their ship went down in the bay of Medova on the Albanian coast, almost within sight of Montenegro, and several hundred of the volunteers drowned. The exact number was never established. On the same day the Montenegrin army began the Battle of Mojkovac. Matica crnogorska marks the anniversary each 6 January.

Risto Stijović

Risto Stijović (born in Podgorica in 1894, died in Belgrade in 1974) studied in Belgrade, Marseille and at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and is best known for small figures of animals. The Lovćenska vila is one of his large public works, made 23 years after the sinking it commemorates.

Protection

The Cultural Heritage Protection Administration confirmed the monument as an immovable cultural property of national importance by a decision of 7 February 2025, published in the Official Gazette of Montenegro 27/2025 under register number 333. The protected plot measures 163.64 m²; the owner is the State of Montenegro and the manager the Old Royal Capital Cetinje. Its protected surroundings coincide with those of the Historic Core of Cetinje.

Getting there

The monument is in the pedestrian historic core, about 200 m (two minutes) on foot from the town centre, on a level street. Drive times without traffic to Cetinje: Podgorica 36.9 km, about 48 minutes; Budva 29.8 km, about 41 minutes; Kotor 52.9 km, about 1 hour 10 minutes.

Nearby

• Cetinje Monastery and the Mausoleum of Bishop Danilo on Orlov krš.
• King Nikola's Museum, Biljarda and the National Museum of Montenegro.
• Monument to Ivan Crnojević on Dvorski trg.
• Other memorials in Montenegro.