Bujović Palace (Perast Town Museum)

Bujović Palace – now the Perast Town Museum – is the main Baroque palace in Perast, standing right on the waterfront on the town’s western shore. Today it serves as a local history and maritime museum, telling the story of Perast’s seafaring heyday and its patrician families.

• Built in 1694 for Vicko Bujović, a Venetian captain and one of Perast’s most prominent citizens.
• Widely regarded as one of the finest Baroque palaces in the Bay of Kotor and the most representative residence in Perast.
• The façade features an arched loggia at ground level, balustraded terraces and several balconies, decorated with coats of arms and Latin inscriptions celebrating the Bujović family.
• The Perast Museum was founded by the municipal council in 1937 and finally moved into the palace after restoration in 1957.
• The collection includes over 2000 items – ship models, charts and instruments, weapons, portraits, furniture, traditional costumes and documents from the 17th–19th centuries.

• A Baroque waterfront palace with an arcaded ground-floor loggia, stone balustrades and balconies overlooking the Bay of Kotor.
• Exhibits on Perast’s maritime past – ship models, navigational instruments, charts, captains’ logbooks and historical weapons.
• Rooms with family portraits and period furniture, plus a balcony offering panoramic views of the bay and the offshore islands.

Bujović Palace was built in the late 17th century, when Perast was flourishing as a Venetian maritime town. Vicko Bujović, a celebrated captain and military commander, commissioned a lavish residence from a Venetian architect, with a façade facing the bay and the narrow Verige strait. The building’s style blends a Renaissance layout with Baroque decorative elements.

On 28 February 1937, Perast’s municipal council founded the town museum, based on donations from old captain families collected in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Initially the museum was housed in the municipal building; only after a major restoration of the palace, completed in 1957 to designs by architect Ivan Zdravković, did the collection move into Bujović Palace. At that time internal staircases and floors were reworked to connect the levels into a continuous exhibition space.

The 1979 Montenegro earthquake damaged both the palace and the museum, prompting structural consolidation and further restoration as part of a wider programme for the Bay of Kotor. Today Bujović Palace is both the home of the Perast Town Museum and one of the key architectural landmarks along the waterfront.

Location: western section of Perast’s seafront promenade (Obala Marka Martinovića), right on the water, a short walk from the main square and boat pier.

Getting there: drive or take a bus from Kotor or Risan to the Perast stop, then walk 3–5 minutes along the waterfront; most bay-boat excursions that stop in Perast moor within easy walking distance of the museum.

Access: admission is ticketed; a standard individual ticket costs around €8, with reduced rates for children and groups and combined tickets available with other local sites.

Visiting hours: according to the official schedule, from 15 April to 15 October the museum is open Tuesday–Sunday roughly 08:00–20:00, and from 15 October to 15 April Tuesday–Sunday 10:00–16:00; it is closed on Mondays and throughout January and on certain public holidays.

Visit duration: allow 30–60 minutes for the exhibits and balcony view, or up to an hour if you like to read documents and maps in detail.

Best time: mornings or late afternoon in the warm season for softer light and fewer tour groups; shoulder seasons offer a calmer experience overall.

Notes: the museum occupies a historic building with staircases and relatively narrow corridors and no lift; at busy times there may be a short queue for tickets and limits on the number of people in the rooms. Photography rules for the exhibits may be partly restricted – check on site.