Montenegro

Ulcinj Old town

WHS Score 0.13
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Votes 13 Average 0.15
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Votes for Ulcinj Old town

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  • Alikander99
  • Federico P.
  • J. Stevens
  • Philipp Peterer
  • Remigiusz
  • Riccardo Quaranta
  • Roman Raab
  • Stanislaw Warwas
  • Szabolcs Mosonyi
  • Szucs Tamas
  • Twobaconsandaboston

1

  • George Gdanski
  • Rodinia

Ulcinj Old town is an example of a town that has woven together oriental and Mediterranean urban and architectural concepts, developed over historical periods from Iliro-Greek to medieval to Venetian and Ottoman. The town is surrounded by city walls, and is divided into an upper town, which was developed by the military, and a lower town, which was settled by civilians. Ulcinj displays a variety of housing types, including traditional houses with Greek-Ionic influenced porches; homes with Mediterranean style porches along the length of the façade; and more recent residences demonstrating Oriental-Ottoman organizational principles.

Site Info

Official Information
Full Name
Ulcinj Old town (ID: 6300)
Country
Montenegro
Status
On tentative list 2018 Site history
History of Ulcinj Old town
2018: Added to Tentative List
Added to tentative list
Criteria
Links
UNESCO
whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org

Community Reviews

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First published: 25/03/25.

Szabolcs Mosonyi

Ulcinj Old town

Ulcinj Old town (On tentative list)

Ulcinj Old town by Szabolcs Mosonyi

Though I've read plenty of reviews here, this is my first one and I'm still a bit uncertain how to approach reviewing sites. It would be easy to just rate based on how I enjoyed a place and I certainly liked Ulcinj. It has a really nice location right by the Adriatic: there's a small sandy beach in the very centre, overlooked by a mosque, which gives it an exotic flair. Added to all this is the TWHS Old Town on a small rocky outcrop, once again spectacularly located. 

However, when visiting a WHS, I expect something spectacular and/or unique. I always check if there's a WHS or TWHS when planning a trip but I'll gladly skip, say, an industrial or prehistoric site and opt for an unlisted pretty town or scenic natural spot instead. Ulcinj wasn't even a TWHS when I visited in 2017, it was added the following year. The reason I went there was that I found it interesting that it's the only place in Montenegro with an Albanian (and Muslim) majority, plus it looked nice on photos.

It was indeed nice and had a different vibe due to its Albanian population, though the centre is really small (and the TWHS old town is even smaller, really just a few houses and a castle of modest dimensions), the rest of the town is quite modern and a bit chaotic. I think it's worth a visit but there are simply so many beautiful towns along the …

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