The most beautiful religious buildings Skopje

Placed at 580 m above sea level, on the northern flank of Mount Vodno, this Orthodox church (Црква Свети Пантелејмон/Crkva Sveti Pantelejmon) is home to exceptional ^12th-century frescoes. Dedicated to St. Pantaleon of Nicomedia, it belonged to a monastery founded in 1164 by the Byzantine imperial Comnenes family (1081-1185). The monastery was active until 1555, when it was partially destroyed by an earthquake. Built of brick and irregular stone blocks, the church has a cross-shaped plan with a main dome mounted on a drum, four secondary domes, three naves and a rectangular narthex. It retains its ^12th-century marble iconostasis, but this lost its decorative elements during the earthquake. The church is surrounded by walls and by buildings of the old complex which normally house a restaurant (closed during our last visit). The church was restored in 1885 and the original frescoes covered with new paintings. The main dome was rebuilt and decorated with a Christ Pantocrator ("Almighty"). During a new restoration in 1923, the ^12th century frescoes were rediscovered. If some parts are missing, the essential of the scenes could be saved. Note in particular the scene of the Lamentation of Christ, on the north wall, under the window.

Realism and emotion. By their bright colors and the purity of their composition, these frescoes are a very rare testimony of the Byzantine art of the Comnenes dynasty, with for only equivalent those of the monastery of Latomou, in Thessalonica, classified as world heritage by Unesco. Created by four or five anonymous painters, probably under the direction of a great master from Constantinople, they are also the first known iconographic representation of the "threne" (lamentation of Christ by the Virgin and burial) which began to develop in the ^12th century in Christendom. Finally, the frescoes of Nerezi are surprising in their realism and emotion, which contrast with the usual static aspect of Byzantine frescoes. They prefigured the work of the Italian Primitives who would develop the humanity and realism of their characters 150 years later, paving the way for the Renaissance movement. The scene of the Lamentation of Christ is reminiscent of the same scene painted by Giotto in the church of the Arena in Padua around 1305.

Located on the edge of Stara Čaršija, beneath the Skopje fortress, this Orthodox church (Црква Свети Спас/Crkva Sveti Spas, Kisha e Shën Sotirit) and its complex house one of the country's finest iconostases, as well as the tomb of Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary Goce Delčev (1872-1903). Dating from the late ^17th or early ^18th century, it is dedicated to the Ascension of Christ and Christ the Saviour: the term Spas refers both to the Ascension of Christ (forty days after Easter) and to Jesus himself. The proximity of the Mustafa-Pacha mosque explains the discreet architecture of the complex. Viewed from the outside, the church reveals only its tiled roof and black-beamed campanile. Once in the courtyard, we discover the sarcophagus in which lies Goce Delčev, considered a hero in North Macedonia and Bulgaria. It was offered by Bulgaria to Yugoslavia in 1946 under pressure from Moscow, shortly before Tito's break with Stalin in 1948. The church is reached by descending a few steps.

Iconostasis. The church's iconostasis is carved entirely from walnut. It is 10 m wide and almost 7 m high. It was made between 1817 and 1824 by brothers Marko and Petar Filipovski and Makarie Frčkovski, a trio who are also responsible for the iconostasis at St. John Bigorvski Monastery in Mavrovo National Park. All three belong to the Macedonian Mijak minority, renowned for their engraving and painting skills. Divided into five horizontal zones, the iconostasis has only two registers of icons, also made by Mijak craftsmen, the largest of which were added in 1864. But it's the woodwork that really stands out. The double twisted columns supporting the various elements are carved from a single block of wood. The panels, meanwhile, are teeming with finely carved details: plant motifs, a fortified city, animals, monsters, human figures and more. Note the group of three men representing the three craftsmen working the wood, tools in hand. Or the biblical scene of Herod's feast, in which Salome dances in traditional Mijak costume to charm the King of Judea into delivering her the head of St. John the Baptist. Finally, the ceiling features frescoes dating from the ^17th century, rediscovered during restoration work in 1964.

This elegant Orthodox monastery (Манастир Матка/Manastir Matka) is occupied by nuns famous for their textile workshop: liturgical vestments for the clergy of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, embroidered icons, but also handbags with folk or modern designs. Founded around 1337, the complex is dedicated to the dormition of the Mother of God. It consists of a large, well-kept garden and buildings from different periods, including a beautiful little church dating from 1497. The church contains remarkable frescoes from the ^15th and ^16th centuries.

This large Orthodox church with salmon-pink walls (Црква Свети Димитриј/Crkva Sveti Dimitrij) dates from the ^18th century. Constantly transformed, it was briefly elevated to the rank of cathedral. If its frescoes, painted after the earthquake of 1963, are without charm, they are famous because of a "miracle": on April 8, 2012, the halos of the saints began to glow in an unusual way. A phenomenon probably due to the humidity of the church during the Easter celebrations.

This mosque (Султан-Муратова Џамија/Sultan-Muratova Džamija, Xhamia e Sulltan Muratit) is the oldest in Skopje. It was erected in 1436 on the site of an Orthodox monastery dedicated to St. George thanks to a donation from Ottoman Sultan Murat II (1421-1451). However, not much remains of the original building as many changes were made, including the restoration completed in 2020. The rectangular building (34.60 x 27.60 m) is preceded by a porch with five arches. The large, classical, tiled roof conceals a decorated dome. The interior space is divided into three naves delimited by two supporting walls and three rows of columns. Dominated by a minaret of 35 m high, the mosque is part of a complex of which two mausoleums and the old buildings of a former medersa (Koranic school) and an imaret (hospice) remain. Next to the latter, to the north, stands the clock tower (Саат-Кула/Saat-Kula, Kulla e Sahatit) which was used to indicate the (variable) prayer times to all the mosques in the city. With a height of 37 m, it was built between 1566 and 1573. For the lower part, a square defensive tower of the old monastery was used. An octagonal stone section was added, topped by a wooden floor. The latter was rebuilt in brick in 1902. Like the mosque, the tower has undergone a recent restoration funded by Turkey.

Located next to the Museum of Northern Macedonia, this mosque (Мустафа-Пашина Џамија/Mustafa-Pašina Džamija, Xhamia e Mustafa Pashës) is the largest and most beautiful in Stara Čaršija. It was built in 1492 as part of a donation from Mustafa Pasha, vizier (minister) to the sultans Bayezid II and Selim ^I. Situated on a small hill, it dominates the old Ottoman town with its 47 m-high minaret. The mosque was once part of a complex comprising a medersa (Koranic school) and an imaret (hospice). It was severely damaged during the 1963 earthquake, and its restoration was only completed in 2011 with financial assistance from Turkey. The building's architecture is simple. It has a square base and a dome 16.3 m in diameter. The ashlar and brick walls are pierced by multiple openings. The white marble porch is supported by four marble columns and covered by three small domes. At the entrance is the mausoleum (türbe) of Ima, Mustafa Pasha's daughter, the fountain for the ablutions of the faithful and the remains of the medersa and imaret. The garden contains the tombs of religious figures and rose beds. The interior is painted with floral motifs and decorated with sculptures. It also features panels bearing calligraphy of the names of Allah, Muhammad and the first four caliphs who succeeded the Prophet (Abu Bakr As-Siddiq, Omar ibn al-Khattâb, Othmân ibn Affân and Ali ibn Abi Talib).

This stunning rotunda-shaped cathedral (Соборен Храм Свети Климент Охридски/Soboren Hram Sveti Kliment Ohridski) is the seat of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. Designed by Slavko Brezovski (1922-2017) and completed in 1990, it is one of the world's few modernist cathedrals. The interior can accommodate 6,000 worshippers. The dome is adorned with a 5-t chandelier and a 70^m2 fresco of Christ. The iconostasis is 19.50 m long and 12.50 m high.

This small Orthodox church (Црква Свети Андреја/Crkva Sveti Andreja) preserves its beautiful frescoes painted shortly after the building's construction in 1389. The most remarkable are those of the Passion of Christ cycle: the Last Supper, the Descent from the Cross and the Ascension on the Mount of Olives. Dedicated to the Apostle Andrew, the church was built for the Serbian lord Andrijaš Mrnjavčević (c. 1340-1395), brother of Prince Marko, who ruled Greater Macedonia at the time.

Founded in the ^12th century, this Orthodox monastery (Манастир Свети Илија/Manastir Sveti Ilija) is isolated in a forest 630 m above sea level. Guarded by a family that lives there, it is famous for its so-called "miraculous" water source (against eye diseases). Its catholicon is a small rock church which preserves damaged frescoes of the ^XIVth century and a beautiful iconostasis in carved wood of the ^XIXth century. Some scenes from the film Before the Rain (1994) were filmed here.

Brightly lit at night, this 66-meter-high tubular metal structure (Милениумски Крст/Mileniumski Krst) is the fifth largest Christian cross in the world. Located at 1,060 m above sea level, right next to the summit of Mount Vodno, it was erected in 2002 on the initiative of the Macedonian Orthodox Church to celebrate the two millennia of Christianity (its height corresponds to twice the Christic age). This symbol of identity, built one year after the civil war of 2001, was strongly criticized by Albanians and Muslims in the country.

This mosque (Мурат Пашаина Џамија/Murat Paša Džamija, Xhamia e Murat Pashës) is not of major interest, except for its three beautiful Ottoman(türbe) tombs in its cemetery, which date back to the ^18th century. It was built in 1802, on the site of a ^15th century mosque, destroyed during the bombardment of Skopje by the Italian general Piccolomini in 1689. It retains the minaret of the old building. Named after a local governor, it should not be confused with the Sultan-Murat mosque, which is located further east.

This mosque (Иса-Бегова Џамија/Isa-Begova Džamija, Xhami e Gazi Isa Beut) was built in 1475-1476 as a tribute to the governor of the Skopje sanjak, then first governor of Bosnia Isa Bey Isaković, son of Ishak Bey. It comprises two identical rooms, two vaulted side wings and a porch covered with five domes. The interior decoration was redone in 1966. The mosque's medersa (Koranic school), still in use today, is one of the oldest in the Balkans. The Sultan-Murat mosque and clock tower lie 300 m to the south.

Located on Macedonia Street, next to the Mother Teresa Memorial House, this new Orthodox church (Црква Свети Константин и Елена) boasts five golden domes and a 50m-high campanile. Built in concrete from 2012, it was still not completed in 2023 (completion scheduled for 2024-2025). It takes its name from a former Orthodox church near the Vardar River, which was destroyed in the 1963 earthquake.

Located north of Stara Čaršija, next to the Bit Pazar, this mosque (Алаџа Џамија/Aladža Džamija, Allaxha Xhamia) was built in 1438 by the general and governor of Skopje Ishak Bey and enlarged by his son Isa-Bey Ishaković. It owes its name to the multicolored ceramics that adorned its walls: in Turkish, alaca means "colored". These were destroyed by fire in 1689. The mosque retains its 30 m-high minaret and richly sculpted doors. The interior features painted decorations, reliefs and ^15th-century parquet flooring.

This Orthodox monastery (Мирковски Манастир/Mirkovski Manastir) was founded in 1879, in a period of tension between the Bulgarian and Serbian clergy. It was in fact created by a Bulgarian monk to divert the faithful from the St. Elias Monastery in Banjane, which was then under the Serbian patriarchate. The small catholicon (main church), which dates from 1879, has a rich iconoclast made around 1950 by the last great master of the Debar school, Nestor Alexiev (1878-1969).

Founded in 1348 by the Serbian knight Radoslav Hlapen, this Orthodox church (Црква Свети Спас/Crkva Sveti Spas) is the parish church of Kučevište. Modified in the ^15th and ^16th centuries with the addition of a porch and a strange high chapel, it retains important ^14th-century frescoes, including a portrait of the families of Radoslav Hlapen and the Serbian king Dušan and a beautiful lamentation scene of the Mother of God. On the outside there are still frescoes painted in 1501.

Dedicated to St. Nicholas, this Orthodox monastery (Шишевски Манастир/Šiševski Manastir) is located at about 480 m above sea level, 160 m above the lake. Occupied by a monk who sometimes offers coffee or a glass of rakija, it was built around a Serbo-Byzantine church built around 1345, probably by Prince Marko. Some original frescoes remain (hermit saints and warrior saints), but most of the decoration dates from the ^16th century. Among the scenes of the life of St. Nicholas, note the female characters with particularly generous breasts.

This Orthodox monastery (Манастир Свети Никита/Manastir Sveti Nikita) houses remarkable ^14th-century frescoes. Dedicated to the holy martyr Nicetas the Goth (^4th century), it was founded in the ^12th century and restored in 1308 by the Serbian king Milutin. The catholicon (main church) has a typical Byzantine exterior decoration made of layers of stone and red brick. The interior is decorated with frescoes made in 1324 by the great Greek artists Michail Astrapas and Eftychios, whose works can be found in Greece, Serbia, Kosovo and Northern Macedonia. At the altar level stand the Fathers of the Church in adoration before the Lamb, a reminder of the sacrifice of Christ. Above, Christ in sakkos (Byzantine liturgical garment) administers the Divine Liturgy (Eucharist). The south wall contains the best preserved and most detailed elements: various saints, miracles of Christ and the Passion cycle. Part of the frescoes was restored at the end of the ^15th century by painters from Kastoria (Greek Macedonia) and the monastery of Treskavec (near Prilep) in respect of the original work. Some alterations were made to the representations of the great feasts (northern part), of Saints Peter and John the Baptist and on part of the upper area of the altar. New frescoes were made in 1846-1847 by Dičo Zografos, a great mijak painter from Debar. The latter intervened on the dome and painted the icons of the iconostasis.

This Orthodox monastery (Марков Манастир/Markov Manastrir) houses remarkable ^14th-century frescoes. It is named after the Serbian prince Marko Kraljević (1335-1395), a vassal of the Ottomans and the last Christian ruler of the region. It was founded by his father, Vukašin Mrnjavčević, in 1346. Around the catholicon (main church) dedicated to St. Demetrios, there is a pleasant garden, a konak (inn) with a small museum, lodgings, a campanile, a well, workshops, a bakery, a mill and St. Mark's chapel. The monastery is remarkable in that it was one of the few Christian buildings preserved during the conquest of Skopje by the Ottomans in 1392. An important intellectual center until the ^19th century, it has been occupied again since 1991 by a small community of nuns preparing a very good rakija. Built between 1346 and 1377, the catholicon follows a simple cross plan, with a narthex (vestibule), a central dome supported by four columns and a smaller dome on its western side. An exonarthex was added in 1830, by the Ottoman aristocrat Hamzi Paşa. The interior houses a beautiful carved wooden iconostasis (some of whose icons were stolen in 2013).

Frescoes. The walls are entirely covered by the original ^14th-century frescoes, made by anonymous painters and on the whole well preserved. A vast cycle is dedicated to the twelve great Orthodox feasts: Nativity of the Mother of God, Nativity of Christ, Entry into Jerusalem, Dormition of the Mother of God, etc. Next to the iconostasis is Christ Pantocrator ("Almighty") wearing the attributes of the Byzantine emperors and surrounded by two archangels and St. John the Baptist with wings, with the Virgin Queen on her right with her mantle embroidered with large crosses, the scenes representing Saints Demetrios (above the entrance door) and Nicholas, as well as that of the Massacre of the Innocents (an episode recounted in the Gospel according to Matthew, according to which Herod, king of Judea, ordered the murder of all children under two years of age after the birth of Jesus), which illustrates the concern for realism of the painters of the time. Finally, on the north wall, the portrait of Marko Kraljević and that of Vukašin Mrnjavčević were rediscovered on either side of the entrance door during restoration work in 1963. King Marko is depicted in royal attire, burnt ochre color, decorated with pearls and precious stones, holding in his hand the text relating the foundation of the monastery in Old Serbian Slavonic.

Located at 600 m above sea level, in the middle of an oak forest, this Orthodox monastery (Кучевишки Манастир/Kučeviški Manastir) houses amazing frescoes from the ^16th and ^17th centuries. Dedicated to the archangels Michael and Gabriel, it was founded in 1330 by the Serbian lord Radoslav Hlapen, and then repeatedly modified. The catholicon (main church), in particular, was equipped with a narthex around 1630. The most surprising parts of its frescoes are on the upper parts of the east and west walls. In the great scene of the Last Judgment, the artists give a very free interpretation of the "Vision of the Four Beasts" from the Book of Daniel announcing the coming of the kingdom of God. Each ruler of a "perishing kingdom" is associated with a wild beast: a lion for Nebuchadnezzar (Babylon), a bear for Porus (a Greek king of India), a wolfhound for Cyrus (Persia) and a leopard for Alexander the Great (Macedonia). This composition is also a rare example of Christian art in which Ottoman Turks - here wearing the fez - and Jews who arrived from Spain, here in the company of Moses, are represented. Opposite is the Tree of Jesse, which presents the presumed genealogy of Christ from Jesse, father of King David. In the form of a climbing vine are 88 portraits and 22 scenes. The first row at the bottom, partially erased, contains the portraits of eleven pagan figures from antiquity considered to be precursors of Christianity. Six have been identified: the philosophers Socrates (^5th from the left), Plato (^7th) and Aristotle (^8th), the physician Galen (^9th), a sibyl linked to the cult of Apollo (^10th) and the historian Plutarch (^11th).

Cryptograms. The church itself was repainted in 1591 with an incredible number of scenes and details in every corner. The windowsills, for example, have cryptograms that can only be deciphered with a code kept in the Serbian monastery of the Patriarchate of Peć, now in Kosovo. Some scenes are unique or very rare: the forty martyrs of Sebaste (dome), Judas plotting with the Jewish priests (very damaged), Judas vomiting wine in the scene of the communion of the Apostles, Arius, the inspirer of Arianism that tore the Church apart in the^fifth century, being devoured by a monster in hell, etc. As for the narthex, the artists who worked here are anonymous. But the presence of a rare depiction of St. Achilles of Larissa indicates that at least some of these late ^{sixteenth-century} artists came from Thessaly, Greece.