Area code(s) +382 31 Local time Wednesday 8:39 PM | Time zone CET (UTC+1) Vehicle registration HN Population 3,748 (2003) | |
 | ||
Weather 8°C, Wind N at 2 km/h, 81% Humidity | ||
Bijela ([bîjɛlaː]; Montenegrin/Serbian Cyrillic: Бијела; Italian La Bianca, San Pietro de Albis) is a coastal town in Herceg Novi Municipality, Montenegro. It is north of Herceg Novi, by the Verige strait of the Bay of Kotor. The 2003 census recorded a population of 3,748.
Contents
Map of Bijela, Montenegro
The chronicler Andrija Zmajević claimed that the 16th-century Pope Sixtus V was descended from a family originating in the area of Bijela. According to Andrija Zmajević, the future Pope's father, Piergentile di Giacomo, was born in the village Bjelske Kruševice near Bijela and moved to Italy to escape the Ottoman conquest.
Bijela Adriatic Shipyard
Bijela is the home of the Jadransko brodogradilište Bijela, (Montenegrin: Јадранско бродоградилиште Бијела) ("Bijela Adriatic Shipyard"), the largest maintenance and repair shipyard dock in Montenegro.
In December 2001 the turbo-electric car ferry Alexander the Great was towed to the shipyard in December 2001 to be converted into a cruise ship, but the project came to a halt and it was not until January 2005 that the ship was towed away.