Spanjola Fortress as Herceg Novi Cultural Center

This week, the International Competition for an innovative conceptual project for the revival of the cultural heritage of Montenegro, the Španjola Fortress in Herceg Novi, ended. As a result of the competition, three works were selected and awarded.

According to the Ministry of Culture of Montenegro, the purpose of this competition, organized in cooperation with UNDP, was to offer modern architectural and urban solutions for the reconstruction and transformation of the ancient fortress of Španjola into a cultural center.

The total prize fund of the competition was $ 24,000, and the first place and a prize of $ 15,000 were won by a team of architects from Montenegro with a reconstruction project of the fortress under the code 3003, which included: Nikola Novakovic, Maria Novakovic, Bogdan Kusevic, Gina Pryat, Nicoleta Savic, Sasha Radojkovic, Nemaja Mitrovic and Katarina Pasic.

The second place and a prize of $ 6,000 received a project under the code URBSH0808, authored by architect Ana Radovanovic from Montenegro, and the third place and a prize of 3,000 US dollars was awarded for the project under code 85340 to a team from Serbia, which included architects Marco Aratski, Srecko Andrijanic and Kristina Nikolic.

The competition was held as part of the Creative Montenegro - Economic Valorization and Creative Industries program, which is jointly implemented by the Montenegrin Ministry of Culture and UNDP.

“One of the main goals of this program is to create a network of cultural/art centers in Montenegro, and one of the centers of an international character is the Španiola fortress in Herceg Novi. It is extremely important to keep this historic site intact, namely, to reconstruct the fortress using all measures and principles of conservation, with the necessary preliminary archaeological and architectural studies and evaluate the territory with the clear goal of further sustainable use of this object. Sustainable use of the fortress is possible only through the introduction of cultural and creative content, which will ensure the economic development of the region. In connection with the already planned cultural and creative events on the territory of the Španjola Fortress complex, as well as the internationalization of these events, after the reconstruction, the Španiola Cultural Center will also be able to receive international cultural participants,” the statement of the Ministry of Culture of Montenegro said.