Kotor Maritime Museum
Montenegro’s Kotor Maritime Museum is a cultural gem in the Old Town, preserving the rich seafaring history of the Boka Kotorska region through artifacts, documents, and exhibits that connect visitors to centuries of maritime tradition.
Location and Accessibility of the Museum
Your visit to the Old Town in Kotor can be supplemented with a visit to the Kotor Maritime Museum, which is found on the Square of the Boka fleet. Consequently, whoever you ask or in whatever part of Kotor you are, you will quickly get the information and come to the desired location.
Historical Significance and Collections
Sailing in Kotor began to develop during the middle ages, and the record of that is the narrative of the foundation of the fraternity of Kotor seamen, the Boka fleet, in the 9th century. Moreover, the memories of those long-gone days and years, on the successes of famous Kotor seamen, artists, shipbuilders, craftsmen, statesmen, and diplomats, intermediaries between west and east, are today kept in the Kotor Maritime Museum in Kotor, which is situated in the baroque palace Grgurin, and with due respect it preserves the fame of Boka and the Boka navy.
In the museum, among other things, one can find portraits of famous captains, models of old galleys and sailboats, navigational instruments, and other very valuable exhibits. Indeed, in the hall of the museum, one can see six bronze tablets in relief, on which the most important events and personalities from the tumultuous history of Kotor are displayed. Also, the museum has exhibited geographic maps, engravings, and aquarelles of the coastal towns. There is also an ethnographic collection, which testifies to the golden age of Kotor navigation from the 16th to the 18th century.
In the Kotor Maritime Museum, a copy of the oldest document about navigation in the areas of Boka dating from 1168 is being preserved. Simply told, in the Kotor Maritime Museum, all the treasure of our sea is exhibited. That treasure protects maritime traditions from oblivion and connects the sea in Kotor with their people, famous seamen, who have sailed from it towards the faraway seas. Next to the very entrance in the medieval palace Grgurin, there are two small cannons, which are symbols of the constant battle of the Boka seamen and pirates.