Crkvice ( sr-cyrl, Црквице, ) is a village in

Krivošije Krivošije ( sr-cyrl, Кривошије, ) are a historical tribe and microregion in southwestern Montenegro, located on a high plateau belonging to the Orjen mountain range, north of the Bay of Kotor. Krivošije was historically located at a tr ...

, on the outskirts of

Mount Orjen Orjen (Serbian Cyrillic: Орјен, ) is a transboundary Dinaric Mediterranean limestone mountain range, located between southernmost Bosnia and Herzegovina and southwestern Montenegro. Its highest peak is Veliki kabao, which stands at . ...

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

, and the wettest inhabited place in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Nowadays virtually uninhabited, Crkvice was most notable as the location of a large

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

military base which was active until the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, when Montenegro regained control of the area.

History

During the rule of the

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

over the

region, Crkvice was used up as the base military camp. The fortifications, including Fort Kom (''Crkvice Ostfort'') and Fort Stražnik (''Crkvice Westfort''), were built by the Austro-Hungarian soldiers in the first half of the 19th Century, and represented the furthest fortification towards the border with

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

. During that period, over 150 objects were built in Crkvice, including military training grounds, hotel, tennis courts, bowling alley, football pitch with stands for 1,000 spectators, cinema, church, bakery, hospital, post office, stables, and even a funicular. During the Austro-Hungarian period, Crkvice had up to 10,000 inhabitants. Crkvice bakery was the largest in Balkans at the time, having produced 24 tons of bread per day. The monument dedicated to the victorious rebels of the 1869 Krivošije uprising was put up in Crkvice on its centenary in 1969.

Climate

Crkvice is within the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...

belt. While summers are hot and sunny, autumn, winter and spring are rainy seasons. A peculiarity of the littoral Dinarids is the precipitation regime as the settlements of

Orjen Orjen (Serbian Cyrillic: Орјен, ) is a transboundary Dinaric Mediterranean limestone mountain range, located between southernmost Bosnia and Herzegovina and southwestern Montenegro. Its highest peak is Veliki kabao, which stands at . ...

receive more precipitation than any others in Europe. Annual rainfall at Crkvice is around . Like most of the Mediterranean Sea, precipitation occurs principally during the winter, but in the higher mountains there is a secondary summer maximum. August is frequently completely dry, leading to

forest fire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...

s. With a maximum discharge of 350 m³/s water one of the biggest

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

springs, the Sopot spring near

Risan Risan ( Montenegrin: Рисан, ) is a town in the Bay of Kotor, Montenegro. It traces its origins to the ancient settlement of Rhizon, the oldest settlement in the Bay of Kotor. Lying in the innermost portion of the bay, the settlement was prot ...

, is a remarkable indicator of this seasonality. Most of the time it is inactive but after heavy rain a remarkable waterfall appears 20 m above the

Bay of Kotor The Bay of Kotor ( Montenegrin and Serbian: , Italian: ), also known as the Boka, is a winding bay of the Adriatic Sea in southwestern Montenegro and the region of Montenegro concentrated around the bay. It is also the southernmost part of the hi ...

. Two wind systems are noteworthy for their ecological significance: bora and jugo. Strong cold downslope winds of Bura type appear in winter and are most severe in the Bay of Risan. Gusts reach 250 km/h and can lead to a significant fall of temperatures in several hours with freezing events problematic for most of the Mediterranean cultures. Jugo is a warm humid wind and is important as it brings heavy rain. It appears throughout the year but is most frequent in autumn and spring.

References

{{Authority control Military history of Austria-Hungary Kotor Municipality Krivošije Former populated places in the Balkans Orjen

History

Climate

See also

References