Podgorica is one of the world’s youngest capital cities. Its relative youth as a seat of power goes some way to explaining why Podgorica feels more like a provincial outpost than the nation’s capital.
Montenegro became a new country in 2008 after seceding from the union of Serbia and Montenegro. During that time, Belgrade was the capital city. Before that, Montenegro was one of the republics that formed Yugoslavia, where Belgrade was also the capital.
During the Yugoslavia era, Podgorica only became the capital before World War II, replacing the former royal capital of Cetinje. Podgorica was bombed heavily during the war, destroying most of the historical elements of the city.
[Victims Of Bombing Memorial.]
There was no Marshall Plan for rebuilding in this corner of Europe. While Podgorica was renamed Titograd, the city wasn’t filled with monumental buildings in honour of Yugoslavia’s president for life.
[Tito looking like a badass in full Nazi-hunting mode.]
All of this introduction to say that there is not much to see and do in Podgorica. I knew that coming in, as ripping on Podgorica seems to be a sport among travel bloggers. I figured I would go and see what the future holds for Podgorica. For this visit, I was curious to see how Podgorica is going about transforming itself into a capital city. So while I checked on Wikitravel for things to see and do, I also checked the city government website to see what is planned in the future.
I began by walking to what used to be the old town. There is technically an old town here, but it was so badly damaged that little of it remains today. At the entrance to the old town is an Ottoman-era clock tower.
The old town now resembles a quiet suburb with unassuming houses and an old mosque.
There are a few old stone houses, but there is not a single street with a coherent row of heritage architecture.
The oldest part of the city can be found by the river, with an old stone bridge and fort remnants. The Old Ribnica River Bridge dates back to Roman times.
To get a better overview of what the old town might have looked like, view it from the other side of the river.
The river is the best natural asset of the city, so I continued walking along the river. I thought it would be great if the city started renovating the river walks. Soon after thinking that, I saw that renovations were underway.
Probably the most iconic architectural landmark of the city is the Millenium Bridge.
Next to that is the Moscow Bridge.
As a new capital, Podgorica now gets to have embassies instead of consulates. Most of the embassies I saw around the city were nothing more than offices in commercial buildings. The USA of course has a large block to itself, and when I went by they were in the process of expanding.
This is what the new campus for the U.S. Embassy in Podgorica will look like.
[Construction of new campus for U.S. Embassy in Podgorica.]
Most of the national institutions are humble affairs. This is the Natural History Museum.
And every national capital needs a national library.
Independence Square will soon be renovated to be a more fitting central point of the city.
A design competition was held, and the winning design was selected at the end of 2020.
[Winning design by DEPÓLIS + Ninoslav Krgovic.]
[Competition proposal by Studio Eiraji.]
There are some lively bar streets around the square, such as those on Bakeska.
{cafes and bars on Bakeska.]
Not all of the urban damage was done during the war. Karver Bookstore is in a Turkish bathhouse that has been built over by a bridge.
The most impressive church is also relatively new, with the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ being consecrated in 2013.
For fans of Yugoslavia brutalist architecture, the Radio and Television building is the best example of the style in the city.
The concrete blocks of the students’ dormitory buildings at the university are livened up by their pink balconies.
The unusual blocky style of the Blok 5 apartments is another brutalist landmark.
The downtown area is low rise with functional and unremarkable buildings. The main pedestrian plaza of Hercegovačka doesn’t have a single interesting building. It has potential though as there are some busy bars and restaurants along here. After the Independence Square renovation, there should be a design competition to make this walking street more interesting.
[McClouds on Hercegovačka.]
I liked how the football stadium is integrated into the city. The stadium is ringed with cafes and shops, so it is useful every day, and not a desolate wasteland until match day.
Most of the new buildings in the city are in the western half of the city.
The centre of this new side of the city is The Capital Plaza.
There were more construction cranes on this side as the city.
The biggest project under construction here is Master Quart.
This is what it will finally look like.
While I was walking about I wondered what more Podgorica could do to lift its international profile. One thing would be to build more architecturally interesting buildings along the river. Podgorica should look to cities like Rotterdam as an example of reinventing itself after WWII destruction.
There are more plans to open up the riverfront to the city. A competition was opened in 2020 (Competition for the Conceptual Urban and Architectural Design for the Development of the Morača Riverfront in Podgorica).
Here is one of the plans for reimagining the Moraca River.
[Reimagining Moraca River.]
A new train station would be nice as well. When I first saw the station I was wondering if that was even the right building for passengers. There is currently only an international connection to Belgrade, but there are plans to restore the Podgorica – Tirana railway. There is also a broader plan to connect Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Albania by rail as part of a Western Balkan railway improvement project.
The train from Podgorica to Bar goes by Podgorica Airport, so it would not take too much to make a spur line to the airport in the future.
[Podgorica Railway Station.]
Of course, it’s easy for me to wander around and play SimCity in my mind as if money was no object, but Montenegro is a country of just over 600,000 people. Another challenge for Podgorica is that it is competing for international investment with the coastal region. Montenegro’s second airport at Tivat has more international connections than Podgorica, and more money is pouring into villas and apartments on the coast than new buildings in the capital.
[Tivat real estate advertising as seen in Podgorica.]
One of the reasons that Podgorica still feels provincial is that there are still few international chains here (which was an observation I found throughout the Balkans). There are no McDonald’s or Starbucks, though it has now has a Hard Rock Cafe at the Capital Plaza.
With no international cafe chains yet, this gives a chance for the local cafes to make a name for themselves.
[Zrno Cafe.]
International restaurants as still few and far between as well (same again throughout the Balkans), so places like this Tex Mex restaurant stand out as a small win for culinary diversity.
[Marquez Tex Mex.]
These are just my casual observations from a three-night stay in Podgorica. It occurred to me while I was doing my amateur city planning that there are proud Podgoricans who are working in the field of urban planning for their city. It will be a lifetimes work of incremental changes to make Podgorica a worthy capital. I will be watching with interest to see how it changes, which may be helped along if Montenegro is accepted into the European Union.
My main reason to visit Montenegro was to visit some coastal destinations, but I always like to visit the capital city of any place. I was also drawn by the prospect of taking a train ride, of which there are only a few lines in Montenegro. From Podgorica, I got the train to the port city of Bar.
Further reading
Highlights of Podgorica, Montenegro – journeyaroundtheglobe.com.
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