OUR LADY OF THE ROCKS - THE JEWEL OF BOKA KOTORSKA

The little town of Perast, a treasure trove of valuable works of the cultural, historical, and artistic heritage of Boka is nestled in one of the most beautiful areas of Boka Kotorska, at the base of the hill of St. Elias. Its valuable monuments, churches, chapels, slender bell-towers, the City Museum, exquisite palaces, balconies and coats of arms have all been well-preserved.

During the winter, it is protected from the northern winds, turned towards the sun and the sea, while a comfortable breeze from Verige helps cool down the town during the heat of the summer. Two picturesque islets stand guard before it. The natural islet of St. George houses a 17^th century church of the same name, as well as the Perast cemetery, dating from 1886, and an ancient Benedictine abbey, from the 12^th century. This secretive islet, over-grown with dense vegetation and slender cypress trees could have, perhaps, served as the inspiration for the painting The Island of the Dead by Swiss painter Böcklin. Not far away from it, lies the man-made islet, Out Lady of the Rocks, with a sailors' votive shrine by the same name. The islet was built by constant heaping up of stones that started in the middle of the 15^th century, on the 22^nd of July, 1452, to be more exact, and has been going on, to some extent, to this day. The islet covers an area of 3030 m².