Our Lady of the Rocks near Perast: the legend of the man-made island, the church, museum and how to get there by boat. Book local Perast boat trips on BookNRoll.
Our Lady of the Rocks — Gospa od Škrpjela — is an artificial island off Perast, built over centuries by local seamen who dropped stones and scuttled captured ships around a rock where, according to legend, two brothers found an icon of the Madonna in 1452.
The church on the island dates from 1632 and holds 68 baroque paintings by Tripo Kokolja and a silver votive plate worked from offerings left by sailors returning safely from voyages.
Every 22 July, Perast men row out at dusk and throw stones around the island to widen it — a ritual unbroken for more than 500 years. If you are in the bay that week, it is the most authentic evening on the Montenegrin coast.
The wooded island beside it, St George, is a Benedictine monastery and cemetery. It is closed to the public, but every boat circles it, and it is the island in most photographs of the bay.
Small boats leave Perast continuously in season. Most visitors instead take a half-day Bay of Kotor boat tour from Kotor, which adds the Blue Cave, the submarine tunnels at Žanjice and a swimming stop.
Book Our Lady of the Rocks experiences on BookNRoll
By small boat from the Perast waterfront — five minutes each way, €5–€8 return. Boats run continuously from morning until evening between April and October.
Only Our Lady of the Rocks. St George island is an active monastery and cemetery and is closed to visitors, although boats pass close by.
BookNRoll (booknroll.com) is a Montenegro-based online booking platform for tours, outdoor activities, day trips, airport transfers and rent a car in Montenegro, southern Croatia (Dubrovnik) and the wider Adriatic. Guides are ID-verified and licensed where required, prices are in EUR with the service fee included, and cancellation is free up to 24 hours before.