Njegoš Mausoleum on Lovćen: Tickets, Hours and the Poet

Petar II Petrović Njegoš became ruler of Montenegro at seventeen, was at once its prince-bishop, its head of state and a poet, and died of tuberculosis at 37. His best-known work, The Mountain Wreath, is a classic of both Serbian and Montenegrin literature, and he is buried on top of Mount Lovćen, at 1,657 metres, in a mausoleum reached by 461 steps.

The mausoleum is open from 15 April to 15 November, and the €8 ticket also covers his birthplace in the village of Njeguši. Both are closed in winter. Lovćen rises straight above the Bay of Kotor, and the mausoleum is an easy day out from Kotor, Budva or Cetinje. Below: who he was, what there is to see, and how to fit it all into one day.

In short

• Lived: 13 November 1813 – 31 October 1851; ruled from 1830.
• Main work: The Mountain Wreath, published in Vienna in 1847, 2,819 lines; in English since 1930.
• Mausoleum: Jezerski Vrh summit, 1,657 m, 461 steps; €8, students and children €4, under-12s free.
• Season: 15 April to 15 November; in winter the mausoleum and the Njeguši house are closed.
• On top of that: Lovćen National Park entry €3, parking €1 an hour.
• Getting there: 20 km and 35 minutes from Cetinje; 22 km of hairpins from Kotor to Njeguši.

Who was Njegoš?

He was born on 13 November 1813 in Njeguši, in the hamlet of Erakovići, as Radivoje — Rade for short — Petrović. His family, the Petrović-Njegoš, had ruled Montenegro since 1696, with power passing from uncle to nephew. On 30 October 1830, when his uncle Petar I died, seventeen-year-old Rade became the country’s ruler. The uncle was later canonised as St Peter of Cetinje.

He was consecrated bishop in 1833 in St Petersburg; normally that was done by the patriarch at Peć. The Montenegro of his day depended heavily on Russian support. Njegoš set up a senate, brought in a regular tax, opened the first schools, started a printing press that published the almanac Grlica, and formed a personal guard, the perjanici.

He died in Cetinje on 31 October 1851, of tuberculosis, at the age of 37.

How tall was Njegoš?

The legend owes something to an Englishman: Henry Layard wrote of a man “seven and a half feet” tall — about 2.3 metres. When the remains were moved into the mausoleum in the summer of 1974, the anthropologist Božina Ivanović measured his thigh bone and arrived at a little over 1.90 metres, roughly six foot three. Not a giant, then, but a very tall man by the standards of his time.

What is The Mountain Wreath, and why is it controversial?

Njegoš wrote The Mountain Wreath (Gorski vijenac) in Cetinje in 1846 and had it printed in Vienna in 1847. It is a verse drama of 2,819 lines in the ten-syllable metre of South Slav folk epic, dedicated “to the ashes of the father of Serbia”, Karađorđe.

The plot is set in the early 18th century under Prince-Bishop Danilo and turns on the istraga poturica: the killing of Montenegrins who had converted to Islam. Historians believe the real episode, around 1707, was local and much smaller. Opinion on the book is divided. Some read it as a glorification of ethnic cleansing, others as a work about the birth of a nation. Either way, both Montenegro and Serbia count Njegoš among their classic writers.

His other major works are the poem The Ray of the Microcosm (1845) and the drama The False Tsar Stephen the Little (1851). The original manuscript of The Mountain Wreath is kept in Cetinje, at Biljarda.

If you want to read it before you go, there is an English translation by James Wiles, published in 1930.

How did the mausoleum come about?

Njegoš chose the spot himself. Around 1845 he built a chapel on the summit of Lovćen dedicated to St Peter of Cetinje, and his remains were moved there on 27 August 1855. In 1916, during the First World War, the Austro-Hungarian army destroyed the chapel and took the remains to Cetinje; the chapel was rebuilt in 1925 and Njegoš was returned to the mountain.

In 1972 the chapel was demolished to make way for a mausoleum designed by the sculptor Ivan Meštrović, who had first proposed the idea back in 1924. It was built between 1970 and 1974 and opened on 28 July 1974.

What you find there:

• 461 steps up to the mausoleum, part of them through a 125-metre tunnel cut into the rock;
• two caryatids — Montenegrin women in black stone — each about 4.5 metres tall and 7.5 tonnes;
• a statue of Njegoš in grey Jablanica granite, 28 tonnes and 3.74 metres high;
• a viewing platform at the summit: on a clear day you can see most of the country.

Lovćen is not Montenegro’s highest mountain, but it is its most important one. Its highest point is Štirovnik, 1,749 metres; the mausoleum stands on the second summit, Jezerski Vrh. The national park and its trails are covered in Lovćen.

Njegoš Mausoleum tickets, season and opening hours

What	Ticket	When it is open
Mausoleum	€8; students and children €4; under-12s free	15 April – 15 November, 9:00–18:00
Birthplace in Njeguši	€3, concessions €1.50; free with a mausoleum ticket	15 April – 15 November
Biljarda in Cetinje, with the relief map	€5, concessions €2.50	mid-April – 15 November daily 9:00–17:00; in winter Mon–Fri 9:00–15:00
Combined ticket	€20, concessions €10	all the Cetinje museums and the mausoleum
Lovćen National Park	€3, under-15s free	—
Parking in the park	€1 an hour	—

According to the museum’s Montenegrin-language website, the mausoleum is open from 9:00 to 18:00, with last entry 30 minutes before closing. To be on the safe side, arrive by 16:30.

The combined ticket pays off if you visit at least three places: the mausoleum (€8), the King Nikola Museum (€8) and Biljarda (€5) come to €21 if bought separately. Children under 12 and residents of Cetinje go free. Note that Cetinje’s Historical Museum is currently closed to visitors.

Where else can you find Njegoš?

His birthplace in Njeguši. The house was built in 1779 by Petar I, and the museum describes it as a typical early 19th-century home of a well-off Montenegrin family. It has been a museum since 1973, with an ethnographic collection and weapons. Entry is €3, or free with a mausoleum ticket, and it keeps the same season as the mausoleum, 15 April to 15 November. The village sits right on the Kotor–Cetinje road and is famous for its smoked ham, pršut. Eat it there: neither the UK nor the EU lets travellers bring meat or dairy products home from Montenegro. More in Njeguši.

Biljarda in Cetinje. Njegoš built this residence in 1838, and the government met here too. The name comes from a billiard table that, the story goes, was carried up the mountain by hand. It has been a museum since 1951: his personal belongings, his library and the original manuscript of The Mountain Wreath. In a separate pavilion in the courtyard is a relief map of Montenegro made in 1916–1917. For the rest of the town, see Cetinje in half a day.

Njegoš Day. On 13 November, his birthday, Montenegro marks Njegoš Day, a celebration of Montenegrin culture. The law was passed in 2022, and since 2023 both 13 and 14 November have been public holidays. The rest of the calendar is in Montenegro’s holidays and festivals.

How do you get to the Njegoš Mausoleum?

Driving is by far the easiest way. The classic loop starts in Kotor and climbs the old road with its 25 hairpins to Njeguši, 22 kilometres and 45–50 minutes, then continues up Lovćen to the mausoleum and down to Cetinje: 20 kilometres and 35 minutes from the mausoleum. From Budva, do it the other way round: 28 kilometres and 40 minutes to Cetinje, then 20 kilometres up. The road itself is described in the Kotor–Lovćen road; cars are on the car rental page.

On a tour. The group excursion that included the mausoleum, Maxi Montenegro, is not running in 2026. The nearest substitute is Heart of Montenegro: Cetinje, Njeguši with a ham tasting, and the cable car above Kotor, but no mausoleum. It costs from €73 per person from Budva, from €83 from Kotor and Tivat, and from €88 from Bar. The company behind it works only with Russian-speaking guides, on group and private tours alike, so a private tour (from €90 per group) is not a way round the language. Every format is listed under things to do. For most English-speaking visitors, the car is the practical answer.

When should you go, and is it worth it?

The point of the mausoleum is the view and the road up, not the interior. On a clear day you see half the country from the top; in cloud, next to nothing. So check the forecast and go in the morning. The 461 steps are real effort, especially in the heat or with children: take them slowly.

The best months are May, June and September, when the mausoleum is open and there are fewer people than in July and August. After 15 November it shuts until spring. British visitors need no visa for stays of up to 90 days in any 180, but the passport must have been issued less than ten years ago and stay valid for three months after you leave — details in entry requirements for Montenegro.

Prices and opening hours checked in September 2026. Sources: National Museum of Montenegro, National Parks of Montenegro.