Silver votive plaques glimmer in the shadows, testament to some 2000 purported miracles wrought by the Virgin Mary on behalf of soldiers, the sick and the shipwrecked. An altar of wedding-cake pink, green and white marble holds the famous icon for which the church was founded, looking out of a hammered silver frame.
Through a low door that forces visitors to genuflect as they pass through it are small rooms crammed with more votive objects, including ships’ lamps and bells and pieces broken off shipwrecks, all frosted with dust.
Beauty built atop wreckage in Kotor Bay.Credit: Adobe
Paintings of caravels, clippers and steamships in distress on stormy seas hang on the walls. In one painting, donated by a ship’s captain, the Virgin Mary rockets across the sky like a meteor about to be entangled in the rigging below.
On the wall opposite hangs an 1828 embroidery made from silk, gold and silver thread, and human hair. In one square centimetre there are 7000 stitches, says Stepic, admiringly. It took 25 years for a sailor’s widow to complete it. You can trace the passing of time in the colour of the hair she stitched with, which changes from brown to grey.
Through the chapel’s small windows, huge views are glimpsed, which seems appropriate. Our Lady of the Rocks is about the human spirit, travellers overcoming the odds of dangerous journeys and giving thanks for the reprieve.
Artefacts on the church walls.Credit: Adobe
There is, I feel as we chug away in our boat, a magic about this place. An island where there shouldn’t be one, and a chapel afloat on dreams.
THE DETAILS
TOUR
Collette’s 15-day “A Taste of the Balkans” tour between Dubrovnik and Ljubljana spends two nights in Kotor and visits many other destinations in Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Slovenia. The next tours depart in April and May 2025. From $5399 a person twin share including accommodation, transport, select meals and tour guides. See gocollette.com