God wouldn’t mind a few stones in special circumstances. Such as at the St George’s Island in Montenegro. And that’s why the island, locally known as Sveti Đorde, continues to grow. Every year on July 22, the people of Perast toss stones into the water around the island. “Every summer, a chain of boats leaves Perast at sunset,” a server at One&Only Portonovi explains. “When they reach, they throw stones around the foundation. We believe it helps strengthen the island to preserve it for future generations.”
Called Fašinada, the tradition has survived for more than 500 years. Of course, where there is God, there will be miracles. Legend goes that in 1452, two fishermen found an icon of the Madonna and Child on a small reef. One of them was ailing, and was astounded when the visit healed him. Hearing of this miracle, the townspeople built a shrine on the spot. It was following the discovery of the icon that sailors began to drop stones at the site after every successful voyage.
The first sight of St George’s Island as the boat pulls away from the stone waterfront of Montenegro’s Perast is unforgettable. The entire island, shrouded in mystery and melancholy, seems to float between land and water, its reflection mirrored in the still bay. Countless cypress trees guard the shoreline. Behind the treeline stands a stone 12-century Benedictine Monastery, whose imposing walls are partially hidden by green.
St George’s, locally known as Sveti Đorde; is one of two tiny islands on the Bay of Kotor. It is closed to visitors. On the other hand, its counterpart, a man-made sister islet, known as ‘Our Lady of the Rocks’, welcomes visitors. Built on centuries of seafaring tradition and faith, it can be only experienced through water. Unlike ‘Our Lady of the Rocks’, which reveals its stories readily, St George’s isolation guards medieval stories and holy secrets.
“Since Benedictine monks established the monastery in the 12th century, it has been a spiritual site. It is the final resting place of Perast’s noble families, naval captains and prominent citizens,” says the captain as he steers the speedboat through the blue waters. The old cemetery gave the island a sombre nickname: the Island of the Dead. The church was largely rebuilt in the 17th century after an earthquake damaged it. Its pale stone walls and blue dome are one of Montenegro’s most recognisable images. The monastery’s exterior gives little indication of what is inside. More than 60 paintings by Perast-born Baroque artist Tripo Kokolja cover the walls, depicting scenes from the lives of Christ and the Virgin Mary. On the altar is the icon that inspired the island’s creation. The walls are festooned with hundreds of silver votive plaques. Many of these were donated by sailors in gratitude for surviving storms, pirates and shipwrecks. Next door, a small museum contains maritime artefacts and religious treasures. Yet even as visitors explore the church, attention keeps drifting across the water.
Sveti Đorde stands at history’s crosroads, where centuries of war and the rise an of empires left their mark. During the Napoleonic Wars, British and Sicilian forces wrested control from the French as they battled for the Bay of Kotor. No signs to mark those war torn times are visible as the boat reaches the shore.
As the sky darkens, boats are seen ferrying visitors the island. ‘Our Lady of the Rocks’ does appear on postcards and travel brochures, but the island that stays in the mind is the one nobody can visit. It is the Madonna’s mystery.