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The Crnojevićs and Obod
Before there was a village by the bridge, there was a fortress on the hill. This is the story of the family who built it, and of the river that still carries their name.
History
A walk through six centuries, from a fortress on a hill to a quiet village on the water.
Stand in the middle of Danilo’s Bridge and look around. Almost everything you see has a story, and some of those stories are more than five hundred years old.
Around 1475, Ivan Crnojević fortified the hill of Obod, and for a few short years he ruled from there. In January 1494 a monk named Makarije finished the first Cyrillic book printed among the South Slavs. Later came Prince Danilo and his stone bridge, then King Nikola, steamers at the quay, a fish cannery, and finally a long, slow quiet.
Start wherever you like. Follow the timeline year by year, or pick a chapter below. And when the facts run out, there are always the legends.
Six centuries by the river
1415–1427
Kom monastery
Đurađ and Lješ Crnojević build Kom monastery.
1465
Ivan Crnojević
Ivan Crnojević begins to rule Zeta. He rules until 1490.
c. 1475
Obod is fortified
Around 1475 Ivan fortifies Obod hill above the river. One source from 1899 says 1482.
disputed
1478
A short-lived capital
Žabljak falls to the Ottomans and Ivan moves his seat to Obod. Obod is the capital briefly, around 1478–1482.
1482–1484
The move to Cetinje
Ivan moves his court to Cetinje (1482), then the monastery (1484).
1485
A charter “written in Rijeka”
Ivan's charter gives a water mill at Obod to the monastery of St Nicholas.
1492–1493
A press from Venice
Đurađ Crnojević sets up a printing press brought from Venice. The printer is hieromonk Makarije.
The Oktoih prvoglasnik
Finished on 4 January 1494: the first Cyrillic book printed among the South Slavs. 270 leaves in red and black; about 105–108 copies survive.
1496
The end of the press
After a Psalter (1495) and a Trebnik, the Ottomans force Đurađ out and Ottoman rule begins.
1523
The Rijeka district
The Ottoman tax register records “Rijeka” as a nahija (district).
1692
The monastery destroyed
The Ottomans destroy the Obod monastery and build a mosque on the site. The Church of St Nicholas is rebuilt in 1743.
1810–1815
House of St Petar Cetinjski
Petar I's winter residence and the oldest building in the village. The village grows around it.
1842
An elementary school
An elementary school opens. Njegoš has already stationed the state guard here.
1853
Danilo's Bridge
Prince Danilo builds the stone bridge in memory of his father Stanko, and Mostina, the house beside it. Some sources say 1855.
disputed
1862
The 1862 peace
The 1862 peace (Convention of Scutari), which Montenegrin tradition links to Rijeka Crnojevića.
disputed
1880s
Ljeskovac palace
King Nikola builds a winter palace at Ljeskovac in the 1880s, and the Church of the Ascension beside it in 1889.
disputed
1885
The steamer Žabljak
The steamer Žabljak starts the first regular line on the lake.
1899
The main lake port
About 500 people, a court, a telegraph and a post office. Steamers sail to Virpazar, Skadar and Plavnica, and dried bleak is the main export.
1905
The New Bridge
King Nikola builds the New Bridge, about 120 metres long.
1924
The steamer Skenderbeg
The Skenderbeg starts the Rijeka–Skadar run. Partisans scuttle it on 12 February 1942; it lies 11 metres down.
1941
The uprising
Uprising barricades go up on 13 July 1941. A plaque remembers 110 people shot here during the war.
1965–2013
The Ribarstvo cannery
The cannery runs, described as Europe's only cannery for freshwater fish.
1981–1982
Ships stop, the road moves
Regular lake shipping ends in 1981, and in 1982 the main Titograd–Cetinje road stops running through the village.
1983
National park
Skadar Lake National Park is created; in 1995 it is listed as a Ramsar wetland.
2024
The hydro plant restarts
The small hydro plant “Rijeka Crnojevića”, first built in 1941, is back online after a rebuild.
2026
UNESCO biosphere reserve
The Skadar Lake Watershed, with the national park and the village, becomes Montenegro’s first UNESCO biosphere reserve (5 June), and the first “Rijeka doživljaja” is held on 6 September.
Chapters of history
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Obod Printing House
In the 1490s a monk named Makarije printed church books for Đurađ Crnojević on a press brought from Venice. The first, finished on 4 January 1494, is the first Cyrillic book printed among the South Slavs.
The Petrović Era
In the 1800s the village grew from a single winter house into Montenegro's main lake port, with steamers, a busy market and two new bridges.
The Twentieth Century
A century of steamers, war and canned fish, then a new road that passed the village by. Fewer than a hundred people live here now. This is their story too.
Legends
Every old place has stories that are not quite history. Here are the ones told about the river and the bridge, with the facts set beside them.
The timeline draws on the sources listed in each chapter. Disputed years are marked as disputed.