Case file · Apparition / miracle
Our Lady of the Rocks
Seamen of Perast in the Bay of Kotor are said to have found an icon of the Madonna and Child on a reef on 22 July 1452, and built an island there by dropping stones after each safe voyage.
1452 CE · 42.49, 18.69 · status: legend
The account
Old ships loaded with rocks were also sunk to enlarge it, and the church was built on the artificial islet. Every 22 July at sunset local people still row out to throw stones into the sea in the custom called fašinada.
The sceptical view
The icon's discovery is a pious legend; the island-building tradition is real.