Mamula, an island to house a World War II concentration camp, will be renovated into a luxury resort. Exotic or disturbing?
Mamula, located between Prevlaka and Luštica peninsulas, near Montenegro’s border with Croatia, is a deserted island in the Adriatic Sea at the entrance of the Bay of Kotor. It has a 19th century fortress that was turned into a concentration camp during the WWII.
According to a report of ANSA, the government of Montenegro has already allowed Orascom, a Swiss-Egyptian company, to transform the island into Mamula Resort. The Montenegrin parliament approved the project despite facing anger from families of those ill-fated prisoners who were tortured in that camp.
Italian forcers kept thousands imprisoned in that camp while killed and starved to death more than 130 people. In fact, the site still has ruins of prison cells. However, the authorities ignored the tragic history and allowed developers to build that luxury retreat.
Image Courtesy: The Real Deal
Both the developer company and the government assured the dissenters that the resort would keep the historical character of the place intact. However, the question is how it is possible to respect the solemn character of the place when it will have a nightclub and spa. In fact, the renderings of the proposed resort show much of the fortress filled in with a pool deck and sunbathing chairs.
Montenegro is a small Balkan country blessed with the historical vestiges of medieval villages, beauty of rugged mountains, and a thin belt of beaches along its Adriatic coastline.
