Bokobran: Urgently protect Straišće Castle from complete destruction

The prehistoric fortress of Straišće on Cape Ograda, between the coves of Žanjica and Mirišta, in the municipality of Herzegnov, could be completely destroyed in the coming months, because there is no functional system for the protection of cultural assets in Montenegro.

That location was recorded in the Austro-Hungarian cadastral maps of the Luštica peninsula back in the 19th century. Today, it does not enjoy the status of a cultural property, and the current State study of the location Sector 34 (Arza-Mirišta-Žanjic) predicts the construction of a high-class hotel right on the hillfort, and two of the nine planned have already been built on the area that should be the protected environment of the site. villa.

Archaeologist conservator Miloš Petričević sent a report to the Administration for the Protection of Cultural Properties about the destruction of the multi-layered archaeological site of Straišće on June 5. About twenty days later Bokobran initiative.

Petričević states that, according to the Law on Cultural Properties, the Administration was obliged to visit the site and write a proposal for placing it under preliminary protection. This, as he said, would mean the suspension of all activities for a year, until the locality is investigated in order to determine the cultural values ​​as a prerequisite for granting the status of cultural property.

He told "Vijesta" that works are underway at the disputed location, which threaten to erase the prehistoric heritage in order to build tourist facilities.

"Construction works are underway on Cape Ograda, and the built objects have repeatedly exceeded the dimensions foreseen by DSL Sector 34. According to this planning document, the construction of eight villas with P+1 floors is planned on the cape. The built objects have visible five floors and several cascading terraces formed on the rocks to the sea itself, where private docks have been built, even though such interventions are not allowed under the Law on Marine Resources", says Petričević.

He adds that, in the records of the Real Estate Administration, almost the entire cape of Ograda is owned by the state of Montenegro, and that the right to use it is enjoyed by the government. The insiders claim that the buildings that have already been built on the disputed location are owned by foreign citizens.

Radio Tivat recently published unofficial information, according to which, for the purposes of the preparation of the Spatial Plan of special purpose for the coastal area, which is in progress, the Straišće castle was recorded as part of the work on the accompanying Study of Cultural Properties. The document in question was created by the same Administration for the Protection of Cultural Property, headed by art historian Anastazija Miranović.

Petričević, who is preparing his doctoral thesis at the University of Ljubljana on the topic of the prehistoric heritage of Grblje and Luštica, states that the Straišće fortress is a valuable site without a corresponding counterpart in Montenegro. "Although its importance may not be obvious and clear to the layman's eye, it is an exceptional site whose devastation would permanently prevent the formation of a more substantial, complex and adequate understanding of prehistory, which would represent an irreparable loss for archaeological and historical science in these areas," he said. .