Locating the Sacred:

Contemporary Materiality and Practice Related to Place-Making in Montenegro

Abstract

This article examines how the “sacred” is located through place-making, materiality, and ritual practice in contemporary Montenegro, focusing on two contested sites: the metal church on Rumija and the Lovchen monument. Drawing on Michel de Certeau’s theory of the sociocultural localization of religious ideologies, the study analyzes the  the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) in Montenegro shaping of national and religious identities. This procees entails material symbols, spatial strategies, and ritual performances to assert physphical control of nationhood and sacred heritage. The findings reveal that these sacred spaces are sustained only through continuous ritual, symbolic reinforcement, and political contestation, making them sites of both strength and vulnerability.