Lovćen is a mountain in the south east of Montenegro, going all the way to the Adriatic coast, descending to the winding and twisting bays of Boka Kotorska, forming the backs of the ancient town of Kotor. The Lovćen serpentine road is well known for its curves going from Kotor to Njeguši, the birthplace of the Petrovićs dynasty. There are two Lovćen peaks and on one there is the Njegoš’s Mausoleum. Njegoš built a chapel on Lovćenu, where he was buried later. In the WWI, the Austrians demolished the chapel, and King Aleksandar Karađorđević restored it. In the 1970’s, at overall popular disapproval, the chapel was demolished once again so as to build a mausoleum according to the design of a Croat (Yugoslav) architect, Ivan Meštrović.
GEOGRAPHY
Lovćen is one of the four national parks in Montenegro (other three are Biogradske gore, Durmitor and Lake Skadar). The mixture of different climatic influences both from the sea and land gave rise to various ecosystems. There are 1,158 plant species on Lovćen, of which 4 are endemic.