Montenegro, officially Montenegrin Republika Crna Gora, German Republic of Montenegro, state in Southeastern Europe with (2018) 622 200 residents; The capital is Podgorica.
Population
The population consists mainly of Montenegrins (45%) and Serbs (29%), both of whom are Orthodox. Muslim Bosniaks (9%), Muslim Albanians (5%), Catholic Croats (1%) and members of other ethnic minorities also live in Montenegro. The proportion of the urban population is (2017) 64%. Around 30% of the population live in the greater Podgorica area.
The second largest city, Nikšić, is located in a polje in the Karst area. The average population density is (2017) 46 residents / km 2. The coast and the Zeta Plain are relatively dense, the mountains and karstified plateaus are extremely sparsely populated. The official language is Montenegrin (since October 2007 the official name for the variant of the Serbian language spoken in Montenegro). Serbian, Bosnian, Albanian and Croatian are recognized as minority languages.
The biggest cities in Montenegro
| Biggest Cities (Residents 2011) | |
| Podgorica | 151,000 |
| Nikšić | 57,000 |
| Pljevlja | 19 100 |
| Cetinje | 13 900 |
| bar | 13 500 |
Religion
The constitution guarantees freedom of religion and follows the principle of the separation of state and religion. All religious communities are legally equal. As the bearer of the Montenegrin and Serbian national identity, however, the Orthodox Church occupies a prominent position in public life. As Orthodox Christians (a good 72% of the population in total), the overwhelming majority of the Montenegrins and Serbs belong to the Serbian Orthodox Church (Metropolie Cetinje); a minority has joined the Montenegrin Orthodox Church connected and connects with it the hope of its own Orthodox national church. For the Catholic Christians (3.4% of the population) there is the exemte Archdiocese of Bar and the Diocese of Kotor (Suffragan diocese of Split-Makarska). The few hundred Protestants (Pentecostals, Baptists, Methodists) form small congregations in Podgorica.
The Bosniaks and almost all Albanians are Sunni Muslims (around 19% of the population), predominantly of the Hanefite school of law. The Hussein Pascha mosque in Pljevlja (built between 1585 and 1594) is one of the most important Islamic buildings in Southeastern Europe in terms of cultural history.
Montenegrin Orthodox Church
According to youremailverifier, Montenegrin Orthodox Church, actually Montenegrin Orthodox Church, is Orthodox Church in the Republic of Montenegro; the national church of the Montenegrins according to their own ecclesiastical self-image. The head of the church bears the title “Archbishop (Vladika) of Cetinje and Metropolitan of Montenegro” and resides in Cetinje; liturgical languages are Church Slavonic and Montegrin (Serbian in the Yekavian variant; Serbian language). Archbishop Mihailo (Miraš Dedeić, * 1938). – In the area of today’s Republic of Montenegro, Christianity gained a permanent foothold under Byzantine influence since the 7th century and spread in the sense of targeted mission since the 9th century. An independent church organization emerged in the 13th century with the elevation of the “Diocese of Zeta” (seat: Ston on the Pelješac peninsula), which also comprised present-day Montenegro, to a metropolis. The first metropolitan of Zeta was Ilarion (1220–42). Since the 16th century, Cetinje has been the seat of the Montenegrin metropolitans, including Petar I. Petrović Njegoš (1784-1830; saint of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Montenegrin Orthodox Church) and Petar II. Petrović Njegoš (1830–1851) gained historical importance. The integration of the Metropolis Cetinje into the Serbian Orthodox Church, which has existed since 1918, is not recognized by the Montenegrin Orthodox Church. She sees herself as the bearer of the almost 800-year-old Montenegrin autocephaly, which she understands with the proclamation of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church and the election of a head of the church (Antonije Abramović, * 1919, † 1996; former priest of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in Canada) has been restored. So far, however, only a tiny, statistically unreliable number of Orthodox Christians in Montenegro have joined the Montenegrin Orthodox Church. The Serbian Orthodox Church and the general orthodoxy do not recognize the Montenegrin Orthodox Church and regard it canonically as a church with an irregular status.
Bar
Bar, in Italian Antivari, port city on the Adriatic Sea in Montenegro, (2011) 13,500 residents.
Seat of a Catholic archbishop; Food industry, tourism. The port district is the end of the 1976 railway line from Belgrade (Serbia), freight and passenger port, ferry to Bari (Italy).
4 km east of Bar, in today’s Stari Bar, lie the ruins of the original city, which was abandoned by the population in 1878 (after being destroyed in the war in 1877). Remains of a bishop’s palace, an aqueduct and a Turkish bath as well as the upper fortress (11th – 16th centuries) surrounded by massive walling with towers have been preserved.
The predecessor settlement, the Byzantine Antipatris, was attested as a diocese as early as the 9th century, was the seat of archbishopric in 1089 and fell to the Venetians in 1443 after disputes between Serbia, Venice and Zeta, who lost it to the Turks in 1573. Awarded Montenegro in 1878 at the Berlin Congress. – In April 1979, Stari Bar was damaged by a major earthquake.
Cetinje
Cetinje [ tsε-], city in Montenegro, 670 m above sea level, at the foot of Lovcen, (2011) 13 900 residents.
Seat of a Serbian Orthodox and a Montenegrin Orthodox Metropolitan; cultural center of Montenegro; Electrical appliance construction, food industry; significant tourism.
Cetinje is dominated by the ruins of the Tablja Castle; Orthodox monastery (founded in 1484 as the seat of a Serbian Orthodox metropolitan, renovated in 1701). The Biljarda Palace (= billiards) of Prince-Bishop Petar II. Njegoš (1838) is now an ethnographic and art museum. The palace of the prince and later king of Montenegro (built 1863–71) is a national museum (weapons, uniforms, furniture).
Cetinje, first mentioned in 1440, became the residence of the princes of Montenegro in 1482 and was the capital of Montenegro from 1878–1918. However, the importance of the city decreased due to the inaccessible location in the mountains and the construction of the new capital Titograd. Since 1993, Cetinje has also been the seat of the head (bishop) of the Orthodox Church of Montenegro, which is not recognized by the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Nikšić
Nikšić [ nik ʃ it ɕ ], town in Montenegro, 640 m above sea level, 57 000 residents, as agglomeration 2,065 km 2 and 72 400 residents; Philosophical Faculty of the University of Podgorica; Steel mill, light metallurgy (aluminum production), wood processing and brewery; in the area bauxite mining.