{
  "country_code": "ME",
  "id": "perast-lady-rocks-icon",
  "title": "Our Lady of the Rocks: an icon and an artificial island",
  "category": "rituel",
  "date": "1452-01-01",
  "date_label": "1452 construction date as reported by the tourism account",
  "location": "Our Lady of the Rocks, Perast",
  "lat": 42.487,
  "lng": 18.688,
  "summary": "An icon found on a stormy night and a recovery story surround an artificial island near Perast. The dossier examines a sacred interpretation and the human construction it inspired.",
  "documented_claim": "The official nautical guide describes stone layering to form an artificial island.",
  "unproven_claim": "The icon discovery has an independently verified supernatural cause or therapeutic effect.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Montenegro Tourism — Nautical promotion guide",
      "url": "https://www.montenegro.travel/uploads/2_BUSINESS/content/Jedrilice_ENG.pdf",
      "language": "en",
      "kind": "Official cultural-tourism guide · PDF",
      "note": "Icon narrative, artificial island and reported construction date; no original medical record.",
      "id": "S1",
      "accessed_on": "2026-09-30"
    },
    {
      "title": "Montenegro Tourism — Megayacht coastal guide",
      "url": "https://www.montenegro.travel/uploads/2_BUSINESS/content/MEGAJAHTE_ENG.pdf",
      "language": "en",
      "kind": "Related official guide · PDF",
      "note": "Overlapping publication from the same authority; not independent discovery testimony.",
      "id": "S2",
      "accessed_on": "2026-09-30"
    }
  ],
  "country": "Montenegro",
  "author": "Eklipsis",
  "content_languages": [
    "en"
  ],
  "path": "/investigations/perast-lady-rocks-icon",
  "source_url": "https://www.montenegro.travel/uploads/2_BUSINESS/content/Jedrilice_ENG.pdf",
  "location_precision": "region",
  "location_note": "Approximate orientation marker for the named locality, not an exact encounter, burial, ritual or excavation position.",
  "location_source_url": "https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=42.487&mlon=18.688#map=8/42.487/18.688",
  "reviewed_on": "2026-09-30",
  "edition": 1,
  "truth_type": "unknown",
  "verdict": "An artificial island, church and associated icon tradition are documented. The alleged miraculous recovery and exact circumstances of the discovery are unestablished by these guides.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "title": "The mystery and the documented account",
      "text": "Montenegro’s nautical-tourism publication describes Our Lady of the Rocks as a church on an artificial islet made by layering stone. It recounts an icon found during a stormy night and connects the discovery with recovery of one of the Moršetić brothers. The guide assigns the beginning of church construction to 1452 and describes votive plates inside. A companion publication repeats the construction history. The account supplies a sacred discovery and votive tradition, rather than a directly witnessed apparition.",
      "refs": [
        "S1",
        "S2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "The question worth investigating",
      "text": "How early is the icon-discovery account, and can the sequence of island construction be established independently? The recovery story, icon provenance, votive offerings and engineering history need separate ledgers.",
      "refs": []
    },
    {
      "title": "Evidence, provenance and uncertainty",
      "text": "The guides are overlapping tourism publications, not excavation or medical reports. A church’s votive collection documents gratitude and belief, not proof of the cause of recovery. The reported construction date needs comparison with earlier church records. The map marks the island, not a reconstructed spot of discovery.",
      "refs": [
        "S1",
        "S2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "Inspector’s assessment",
      "text": "An artificial island, church and associated icon tradition are documented. The alleged miraculous recovery and exact circumstances of the discovery are unestablished by these guides.",
      "refs": []
    },
    {
      "title": "Next research and discriminating evidence",
      "text": "Compare church inventories, attributed histories and published island surveys. Date votive objects individually and distinguish donor testimony from later explanatory labels. Search for the earliest reference to the brothers and storm. Check construction phases without removing stones or proposing access to restricted church areas.",
      "refs": []
    }
  ],
  "timeline": [
    {
      "date": "1452 in the guide",
      "text": "Construction is reported to begin following the icon tradition.",
      "refs": [
        "S1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "Undated island-building sequence",
      "text": "The guide describes layers of stone forming the artificial islet.",
      "refs": [
        "S1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "Later votive tradition",
      "text": "The church is described as preserving offerings and painted decoration.",
      "refs": [
        "S1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "30 September 2026",
      "text": "Eklipsis compiles this English documentary investigation from the named sources. No field visit or new eyewitness interview is claimed.",
      "refs": []
    }
  ],
  "claims": [
    {
      "text": "The official nautical guide describes stone layering to form an artificial island.",
      "status": "Documented in the named record",
      "refs": [
        "S1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "The icon discovery has an independently verified supernatural cause or therapeutic effect.",
      "status": "Not established by the selected evidence",
      "refs": [
        "S1",
        "S2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "An artificial island, church and associated icon tradition are documented. The alleged miraculous recovery and exact circumstances of the discovery are unestablished by these guides.",
      "status": "Editorial assessment; stated limits apply",
      "refs": []
    }
  ],
  "hypotheses": [
    {
      "title": "Devotion linked to gradual human construction",
      "status": "Supported physical and cultural framework",
      "support": "The account identifies an artificial island and votive practice.",
      "limits": "Individual building phases are not supplied.",
      "test": "Compare inventories and survey phases with dated donations."
    },
    {
      "title": "A miraculous discovery and recovery",
      "status": "Attributed religious tradition",
      "support": "The guide connects an icon with a brother’s recovery.",
      "limits": "No contemporaneous case record is given.",
      "test": "Find the earliest attributable narrative and distinguish reported outcome from its interpretation."
    }
  ],
  "tasks": [
    {
      "title": "Trace the earliest accessible record",
      "body": "For Our Lady of the Rocks: an icon and an artificial island, record author or storyteller, collection date, language, translation, page and exact scope. Distinguish evidence of a story being told from evidence of its events. Note which full documents remain unavailable."
    },
    {
      "title": "Investigate the central question",
      "body": "Compare church inventories, attributed histories and published island surveys. Date votive objects individually and distinguish donor testimony from later explanatory labels. Search for the earliest reference to the brothers and storm. Check construction phases without removing stones or proposing access to restricted church areas."
    },
    {
      "title": "Compare explanations without merging evidence",
      "body": "Compare inventories and survey phases with dated donations. Find the earliest attributable narrative and distinguish reported outcome from its interpretation. Preserve contradictions and unsuccessful searches; proposed work remains unperformed."
    }
  ]
}