Our Lady of the Rocks
By Allan Brown:
Before there was an island and before there was a church on an island it was a small rock of about 3 meters square sticking out of the water in an islet off the coast of Perast in the Bay of Kotor, Montenegro. Then things got weird, in 1452 some fishermen saw a vision of the Virgin Mary underneath the water near the rock so they needed to set her free. Or something like that.
They were then on a mission from god to build an island. Sailors would toss a rock near the original rock outcropping upon returning from a successful sea voyage. This started centuries of sinking rocks to the lake bottom 25 meters below to make an island. They would also sink captured ships filled with rocks to eventually create an island big enough to build a small church. Every year on July 22 the locals still celebrate Fasinada and toss rocks into the water to increase the island’s size.
We visited Lady of the Rocks today in Montenegro taking a small boat to the island about 200 yards from the shore. The chapel included mementos and offerings from sailors around the world. There are some paintings from the artist, Lovro Dobricevic.
One of the more unique items is a tapestry that took 25 years to make, it is gold and silver in color that includes human hair woven into fabric. The artist was blind by the time she finished waiting for her husband to return from the sea, he didn’t. This was stolen during the war in 1991 and later returned.
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