It is likely that few cities in Montenegro have more importance for Montenegro than Cetinje. This statement is not based on mere local patriotism, but on historical facts. Since its foundation, this natural fortification with hills as ramparts has been the seat of the spiritual and political life of Montenegro for almost five centuries. Through the time machine of history, many armies passed through the Cetinje field, as well as prominent figures from the political and artistic life of Europe. Cetinje is the city of Njegoš and Danil Kiš on the one hand, Dada Đurić and Petr Lubarda on the other, but also the city of Pavel Vujisić and Žarko Laušević.
World aces in sports such as Veselin Vujović and Božidar Ivanović were born in Cetinje, as well as many other personalities who occupy a special place in the Pantheon of Montenegrin greats. The capital also became a "Hero City" after the Second World War, and until the nineties of the XNUMXth century, it seemed to be indestructible in the field of culture, tradition and the significance it has for the foundations of our country.
However, since the famous AB "devolution", this city is rushing towards the abyss and is within reach of its destruction. Today, Cetinje has nothing to brag about, except for a few bright spots: the rock band Perper, the alternative band The books of books, the music, art and drama academy. The rest is not worth mentioning. Current Cetinje looks like a city of zombies that suck each other's energy. The main meeting places of citizens are no longer cinemas, theaters, or shopping centers, but the town chapel, where "former" citizens of Cetinje leave for a better life.
The population is mostly over-indebted with loans and on the brink of existence, and Cetinje has neither the economic nor the population power to still function as a municipality. There are no jobs, and there is no prospect that there will be any. It was more than enough pointed out that there is no industry in this city that adorned it during the era of socialism and that employed more than 10.000 workers in its chain. The capital once had 25.000 inhabitants, while today it has only 16.000. In the past, 12 classes of first-class students were enrolled in elementary schools in this city - now only 6. The only thing that remembers the past era of "classless society" are the old refrigerators, which are still found in some homes.
Novo Cetinje does not look like itself. Cultural life is reduced to a couple of cafes where guests, like African blacks, experience a trance with the sounds of popular turbofolk. As far as cultural institutions are concerned, the complete program is far away from citizens, because only tight-knit suits from the Government visit these events. Cetinje is alive once a year - on May 21, when the blue camarilla presents itself to the citizens with the words: "We brought independence to Montenegro", not "We restored independence", as if history did not exist before them.
On that occasion, a big concert is necessarily organized on the Student Square, where the attendees, with free alcohol, forget about their problems and stale everyday life. Of all the "institutions", the betting shops, the hospital and the funeral home work best, so the city is shrinking and the cemetery is expanding. However, the main topic of the majority of citizens is not the economic ruin of this city, but rather - nationalist debates about Montenegrins and Serbs. In this way, the ideology of the ruling elite managed to divert all existential frustration in a completely wrong direction.
Cetinje, however, can boast, among other things, the work of the local self-government. Our creators managed to completely degrade this city during their mandates. If they had tried to destroy it, they would not have had this success. It has already become popular in Montenegro that Cetinje does not have a bus station, while most of the streets are dug up as if Russian tanks had trampled on them. The city, despite its huge hydro potential (Cetinje is the rainiest city in Europe, with an average of 4173 mm of precipitation per cubic meter), lacks water in the summer.
There are no cinemas in the capital, the city stadium looks as if it survived the bombing, and the facades of the houses take on the appearance of those of Palanje - so when a tourist enters Cetinje, he has the feeling that he is in Rijeka Crnojevića. The building of the former Russian embassy, which now houses the Faculty of Fine Arts and which unfortunately burned down last year, has not yet been rebuilt. The huge halls of the former giants gape like caves, waiting for Marina Abramović (whom our ruling politicians hadn't heard of even when she was one of the most famous artists in the world) to make an exclusive out of them. Ever since the Austro-Hungarian occupation, Cetinje residents have been promised the Cetinje - Lovćen - Kotor cable car.
As for the media, the capital has no local television, and Radio Cetinje, once a great media outlet, often does not work due to irregular payments to employees. Local newspapers come out sometimes, but the articles in them are, to put it mildly, shameful. That magazine is more like the utopian thoughts of the leaders of Cetinje, than an objective perception of reality, so the reader of its pages has the feeling that he is a resident of Monte Carlo. The only thing the local satraps can boast about is the paving of the city's corso and King Nikola Square. The people of Cetinje, who in spite of everything do not lack spirit, ironically named this investment - sugar in cubes. The beginning of the works on this project is also interesting - Njegoševa street (formerly called Katunska) began to be excavated 3 days before the parliamentary elections in 2012, and only a few meters, just to see that something is being done in Cetinje, and at its beginning a sign was placed with the inscription: "Start of work - October 2012, completion - December 2012." Of course, the work is still ongoing, so in the height of the tourist season, visitors have the opportunity to see drills and "cobras" in addition to numerous cultural monuments.
Some expert with a booklet was smart enough to erase the "completion of works" and the date in black. One of our local viziers, motivated by paving, modestly stated in "Pobjeda" in July of this year, that Cetinje is "the largest construction site in Montenegro". A really great joke, in the manner of bad Ivan Ivanovic. There will be no mention of the way to get to work in this city in most cases. Everyone knows very well what intellectual characteristics and belonging are needed for this satisfaction.
All in all, the ship from Cetinje is sinking, although the oligarchy claims that it is an impenetrable cruiser. Nor is the culture of the citizens at the level that once graced this city. It is not uncommon for city boys to park their cars in parks and green areas, and the lack of a basic culture of education has the consequence that the streets are sometimes full of animal excrement.
And a lot more could be written about the decadence of the Capital caused by the spiritual atmosphere in Montenegro in the last quarter of a century, but due to space limitations, this text should end with a telegram to the founder of Cetinje - Ivan Crnojević. "Dear Lord of Montenegro, founder of our state and our Capital, I am writing these lines to you with immense sadness on the occasion of the death of your darling - Cetinje. You know how proud you were when you built it, and you know very well - what it represented for Montenegro and how proud the people who once lived there were. You see that the experts, to whom you entrusted it, have made it a kind of city of "dead souls". Please accept my condolences, and I remain hopeful that this death is only temporary and that better days will dawn on Cetinje - when the vampires leave and it rises again. Let them be honored by the moves they made, and let the well they built in the center of the city serve as a hiding place, so that they never come out in front of the people of Cetinje. Hold on to me like a real Montenegrin and don't give in!."
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