Rose is a small town at the entrance to the Bay of Kotor. It is accessed by a long deserted road. There are no streets which are passable by car. Still the town as it stands today is only a shadow of its glorious past and significance for the Bay. In the vicinity, there are more than ten military fortifications of different ages, and three of them still operate.
Back to Rose later, now we are going to consider one of the fortresses nearby, a defense bastion that survives today in near-perfect condition.
There is a good asphalt road from Krašići to Rose. 3km before Rose, to the right you will see the remains of an old road block. In 500m, there will be a wide gravel road to the left. There is a ‘No littering’ sign at the beginning and a pile of litter, naturally! The fortress is located beyond the sign.
Rose Fortress Amazing Facts
There seems to be virtually nothing written about Montenegrin fortresses and military installations. The only mentions are on German and English-language websites, but they are minor. We failed to find anything specific about this place. There are mentions of a Turkish fortress here. The Venetians destroyed it during a siege, only to rebuild it anew. By the end of the XIX century (as the inscription at the entrance has it, ‘1897’), the structure was entirely remodeled by the Austrians. It is their work that we can see now. They say that the Turkish fortress could be reached by a narrow-gauge road. We still have yet to find any traces of it.
The structure of the Rose fortress is similar to most Austrian fortifications in Montenegro which have a complex way of approach. Here we find long passageways between high walls, easily raked by fire from any direction. The main entrance is located at the end of the passageway. Judging by the condition of the walls near the gun ports, the fortress was never besieged as no traces of gunfire can be seen.
There is a wide and deep moat around the fortress, protected by caponiers.
The fortress has two floors with open ports for large-caliber guns on the roof. All guns were pointed at the sea, facing Italy; however, the Bay itself is not covered. This was perhaps there was a separate defensive fortification closer to the shore.
The guns in the fortress where were mounted high-caliber machine guns and three long-range cannons. All this machinery was designed to engage naval targets, i. e. various ships.
The shell size is rather impressive. You can see for yourself by visiting the shell carriage on the first floor. It is interesting to trace the path of a shell from the storage room to the gun chamber. There are many fine subtleties and engineering ingenuities.
Near the fortress, to the north you can find an inconspicuous bunker. We can only guess as to what its purpose is now. It has no gun ports, the space inside is limited and there are no entry defenses. It was probably a hiding place or a stash of some kind. It not that easy to get to, so its secret has yet to be revealed.
If you decide to go to the fortress, take a torch. Half of the rooms are unlit so it can be unsafe.
