The beautiful remains of Stari Bar sit on top of Lundža hill. Steep cliffs surround the old town and render it inaccessible from all but one side. Findings of pottery and metal have dated occupancy as far back as 800 BC. During the 3rd century, the occupying Romans destroyed the old settlement and abandoned it for a location closer to the sea.

Three centuries later, the Byzantine Emperor Justinian built a fortified tower on the same hill, and Stari Bar started to develop into an active centre on the Adriatic coast. In the 10th century, Stari Bar was referred to as 'the Antinbaris, as in, opposite to the Italian city, Bari'. Hence its current name. In the 11th century, it was part of Duklja or Zeta, the first Slavonic littoral state, and soon after became one of the most important political, economic and cultural places on the coast. Nearly all the 240 buildings lie in ruin, a result of shelling by the Montenegrins when they captured the town back from the Turks in 1878.