Ambassador's Fund Helps Preserve Remains of Franciscan Monastery in Kotor
On August 14, at the Regional Institute for Cultural Heritage Preservation in Kotor, U.S. Ambassador to Montenegro Roderick W. Moore will announce a $44,900 grant provided by the Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation for the preservation of the remains of the Franciscan Monastery at Gurdic, Kotor. The Grant will fund archeological research of the Monastery’s area, its cleaning and treatment, and the restoration of the remains of the Monastery’s walls and 225 surrounding tombstones. The goal of the project is to preserve this valuable historical site so that it can be enjoyed by Montenegrin and foreign visitors to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Kotor. Ambassador Moore, Mayor of Kotor Marija Catovic, and Director of the Regional Institute for Cultural Heritage Preservation Ruzica Ivanovic will give brief remarks. Representatives of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Media and other guests will attend the event.
The Franciscan Monastery project is one of 71projects in 58 countries worldwide awarded this year through the Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation. The project was selected in competition with 168 projects submitted by 90 U.S. embassies and consulates across the world. The U.S. Congress established this program in 2001 to help preserve historic sites and manuscripts, museum collections, and traditional forms of music, dance, and language. Thus far it has funded over 500 projects totaling $16 million. In Montenegro, The Ambassador's Fund helped restore the lower ramparts of the Kotor fortress in 2003, the shadrvan of the Hussein Pasha Mosque in Pljevlja in 2007, and the preservation of Piva Monastery’s frescos in 2008.
The Franciscan Monastery was built in 1288. Its complex also contains about 225 identified graves with coat of arms of noble families as well as those of craftsmen, tailors, and other inhabitants of the area at the time. The Monastery was totally destroyed in 1677 and was never rebuilt. The site was first discovered in 1954 and additional research was conducted in 1986.
Journalists interested in covering the event should be at the site of the remains of the Franciscan Monastery, across “Lovcen Osiguranje” and nearby “Panto Market” in Kotor at 12:15 on Friday, August 14. An archeologist from the Regional Institute for Cultural Heritage Preservation, Ms. Vilma Kovacevic, will present the site and describe the work to be done. Following that, media crews will walk to the Regional Institute for Cultural Heritage Preservation in the Old Town of Kotor to attend the press conference which will begin at 13:00.
For more details on this event, please contact Sasa Brajovic from the Embassy at +382 67 28 35 42.
For more information on the U.S. Government’s programs in Montenegro, please visit the Embassy's web site at http://podgorica.usembassy.gov/