Risan

The city was first mentioned in the IV century BC. e. under the name Rhizon ( Rhizon ). Then it was the capital and main fortress of the Illyrian state, where Queen Teuta ruled and where she hid during the Illyrian Wars . In those days, the entire Boka Kotor Bay was called "Sinus Rhizonicus", since then it was Risan that was its most significant city. Reason even had his own divine patron named Medaurus , portrayed as a horseman with a spear.

By the beginning of our era, the city was conquered by the Romans , who called it Rhizinium . The period of greatest prosperity under Roman rule came in the 1st - 2nd centuries AD. e. Five Roman mosaics remind us of these times - the most significant traces of ancient Roman rule in all of Montenegro. The best preserved of the mosaics depicts Hypnos , the Greek god of sleep. This is the only known image of its kind in the Balkans and one of the few ancient sights in the city.

In the Middle Ages, Risan lost its former significance. The invasion of the Avar and Slavic tribes devastated the city. The last mention of the Risan bishop dates back to 595 .

In the X century, the Byzantine emperor Konstantin Bagryanorodny writes about Risan as one of the cities of the Serbian princedom of Travunia .

In the middle of the 15th century, Risan was mentioned as a city belonging to Duke Stefan Vuksić . In 1466, the Venetian Republic invited the duke to exchange the cities of Risan and Herceg Novi for the island of Brac in the Adriatic Sea and the palace in Split - however, Stefan Vuksic refused. In 1482, the Ottoman Empire conquered both Risan and Herceg Novi from the son of Duke Stefan, Vladislav Hercegovich .

According to the census of 1627, 800 townspeople lived in Risan - 570 Muslims , 150 Orthodox and 80 Catholics .

Only in 1688, the Venetians recaptured both cities from the Turks and included Risan in the Venetian Republic as part of the Albania Veneta province under the Italian name Risano .

In the following centuries, the fate of Risan did not differ from the fate of the whole of Boka Kotorska - Venetian domination until 1797 , a brief period of French rule within the Illyrian provinces , Austrian rule until 1918 , joining Yugoslavia before its collapse. Currently, the city is part of an independent Montenegro .

According to the 2003 census, 2083 people live in Risan. Of which 1692 are adult residents. The average age is 42.4 years. (The average age of men is 39.3, women - 44.8 years). In the city in 2003, 589 households were registered. According to the censuses in Risan, the population of the city is constantly growing.

Today in the city of Risan there is a port, *** Teuta hotel, Vaso Chukovich, a specialized center for the treatment of orthopedic diseases and neurosurgery, a school. There are almost no medieval buildings in the city, however, one can mention the patrimonial palace of Ivelichi - the Russian count kind, originating from these places.

• Pyotr Ivanovich Ivelich (1772 - after 1850) - Count, Russian Major General, hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, participant in the Battle of Borodino.