{"id":155754,"date":"2024-10-31T17:55:04","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T15:55:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/?p=155754"},"modified":"2024-10-31T17:55:06","modified_gmt":"2024-10-31T15:55:06","slug":"the-post-mortem-ordeal-of-the-great-vladika-njegos-left-a-testament-to-the-montenegrins-that-remains-unfulfilled-to-this-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/the-post-mortem-ordeal-of-the-great-vladika-njegos-left-a-testament-to-the-montenegrins-that-remains-unfulfilled-to-this-day\/","title":{"rendered":"THE POST-MORTEM ORDEAL OF THE GREAT VLADIKA: Njego\u0161 left a testament to the Montenegrins that remains unfulfilled to this day!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Njego\u0161’s mausoleum on Lov\u0107en is today one of the most recognizable symbols of Montenegro, visited by thousands of tourists annually. Here rest the remains of one of Montenegro’s greatest spiritual and secular rulers, as well as one of the greatest Serbian poets and philosophers. However, few people know that the path of the esteemed Vladika to this place was long, thorny, and even extremely humiliating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Near the end of his life in 1845, the same year his masterpiece “The Mountain Wreath” was printed in Belgrade, Vladika Petar II Petrovi\u0107 Njego\u0161 ordered a modest chapel to be built on Lov\u0107en, at Jezerski vrh. He dedicated the church to his uncle, Saint Peter of Cetinje, and expressed his wish to be buried there, without much pomp and ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mauzolej Petra II Petrovi\u0107a Njego\u0161a na Lov\u0107enu \/ Wikimedia Creative Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At that time, no one could have imagined that this last wish of the great Vladika would be incredibly difficult to fulfill and that Njego\u0161 would face a real ordeal only after his death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Petar II Petrovi\u0107 Njego\u0161 \/ Wikimedia Creative Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Njego\u0161’s Testament and “Curse” Milorad Medakovi\u0107, Njego\u0161’s adjutant and friend, recorded the words with which the Vladika obliged the Montenegrins to bury him in his church on Lov\u0107en: “This is my last wish, which I ask you to fulfill, and if you do not give me God’s faith that you will do so, as I want, then I will leave you before a curse, and my last hour will be the saddest for me, and I place this sorrow of mine on your conscience.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Five Graves for Petar II Petrovi\u0107 Njego\u0161 Petar II Petrovi\u0107 Njego\u0161 died on this day, October 31, 1851, but his testament could not be immediately fulfilled. “Although Njego\u0161 explicitly left instructions to be buried on Lov\u0107en, the Montenegrins feared that the Turks might reach the mountain and desecrate his mortal remains. Therefore, instead of his own chapel, Njego\u0161 was first buried in the Cetinje monastery where the relics of his uncle, Saint Peter of Cetinje, rested,” says historian Dobrica Jovi\u010di\u0107. Four years later, in 1855, it was assessed that there was no longer any danger from the Turks, so Njego\u0161’s remains were transferred to Lov\u0107en, thus fulfilling his last wish for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tvr\u0111ava Tablja \/ Wikimedia Creative Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It seemed that the Vladika had finally found eternal peace, but it turned out that the worst years were yet to come… “During the First World War, the Austro-Hungarians heavily bombed Lov\u0107en and the chapel, probably knowing the importance that the Serbs and Montenegrins attached to this place. After the Battle of Mojkovac and the occupation in 1916, the Austro-Hungarians desecrated Njego\u0161’s grave and ordered his remains to be transferred back to Cetinje,” explains Jovi\u010di\u0107, adding that the occupiers planned to completely destroy the chapel and build a monument on that site as a sign of Austrian conquest of Lov\u0107en. According to some records, the exhumation of Njego\u0161’s bones was carried out secretly, at night, and since the grave was dug by soldiers, many bones were lost due to carelessness. The story goes that an Austrian soldier of Serbian origin later found three bones in the ruined grave, kept them throughout the war, and only then delivered them to Cetinje.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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