Grmožur

Skadarsjön · Montenegro · Prison

Legend says snakes were released on the prison island to guard it better than walls — and they bred until the rock crawled with them.

The legend of Grmožur is about the snakes. To keep the prisoners in check, snakes are said to have been released on the small rocky island in Lake Skadar, and they bred until the island crawled with them — living sentries that made the walls almost superfluous. Only prisoners who could not swim were sent here, and the same rule applied to the guards: if an inmate did vanish, the guard served out his sentence for him.

The Ottomans built the fortress in 1843, and when the Montenegrins took it in 1878 they turned it into a prison for the worst offenders — a Montenegrin Alcatraz no one is said to have escaped. After the earthquake of 1905 the island was abandoned, and today only birds brood among the desolate walls.

FAQ

Where is Grmožur located?

Grmožur is in Skadarsjön, Montenegro.

Image: Ilya Bogin / CC BY 2.0 — Wikimedia Commons