The Monastery of Ostrog is a monastery of the Serbian Orthodox Church situated on a cliff called Ostroska Greda, in Montenegro.
It is one of the most visited Christian monasteries on the planet and is the most popular pilgrimage place in Montenegro.
The monastery was founded by the Metropolitan Bishop of Herzegovina St Basil or Vasilije in 1665. Vasilije brought his monks here after the Ottomans destroyed Tvrdoš Monastery near Trebinje. He decided to build three caves in the rocks.
The first one was the Church of the Presentation for the monks to pray, the second a bedroom for guests, and in the third he decided to build a chapel to house religious artifacts.
He died in 1671 and some years later he was glorified. There is a reliquary where his body is enshrined in the cave-church dedicated to the Presentation of the Mother of God to the Temple.
The monastery is divided into two parts: the lower monastery and the upper monastery.
The lower monastery is 2 km below the main shrine or the Church of the Holy Trinity that was built in 1824. There are rooms available where pilgrims can find a place for the night. The upper monastery houses the Church of the Presentation and the Church of the Holy Cross which are the main areas of the monastery.
According to Lonely Planet, this part is dubbed ‘Sv Vasilije’s miracle” because no one seems to understand how it was built. Another miracle is the vine which grows out of the rock. It is said it’s a miracle because nothing should be able to grow out of the rock.
The pilgrims have a tradition which is to walk 3 km from the lower monastery to the upper monastery barefoot. They make a donation of clothing, blankets or soap for the monks before entering the Church of the Presentation.
According to the Gregorian calendar, St Basil died on 12 May and the monastery celebrates its feast day on this date every year.