Nikšić · Montenegro

Lower Ostrog Monastery

monasterypilgrimagegeologyhistorygoogle verified

moderate

10/10

best: morning

spiritual, dramatic, remote

A local would say...

A monk hid from the Ottoman army by building a monastery inside a cliff — and never left.

A monastery carved directly into a sheer cliff face 900 metres above the Zeta Valley, built in 1665 to hide Archbishop Vasilije Jovanović from the Turks, where the saint's bones are venerated as miraculous and attract thousands of pilgrims annually. The cliff setting makes it appear almost impossible — the white monastery buildings emerge from the grey rock as if grown there. The approach road winds dramatically up through the Zeta canyon.