Things to see and do Pelagonia

Isolated at an altitude of 914 m, this beautiful Orthodox monastery (Слепченски Манастир/Slepčenski Manastir) enjoys a superb natural setting, beneath Mount Bigla (1,322 m). Dedicated to St. John the Baptist, it is said to have been founded in the^5th century and enjoyed a period of splendor in the ^9th century under the rule of St. Clement of Ohrid. Today, most of the buildings date from the ^16th century, and few of the old frescoes remain. But it's a good place for shopping: the monks produce and sell honey, cheese, cured meats, cider vinegar, jams and more.

This memorial-museum (Меморијален Музеј Смилево/Memorijalen Muzej Smilevo) was established in 2004 in a new, old-style building in Smilevo (population approx. 210), the village where Dame Gruev was born in 1871. Here, he was the founder of the Macedonian Internal Revolutionary Organization (VMRO) in 1893, took part in the Ilinden uprising in 1903 and was killed by the Ottomans in the Maleševo massif in eastern Macedonia in 1906. The museum houses a reconstruction of the hall where the founding congress was held in 1893, as well as traditional costumes from the region.

Opened in 1989, this national museum (Музеј на Народно Ослободителната Војна/Muzej na Narodno Osloboditelnata Vojna) is dedicated to the region during the Second World War. Here you'll find weapons used by the partisans, as well as period documents. But the main attraction is the superb fresco by Prilep-born artist Borko Lazeski (1917-1993). His local work includes the stained glass windows of the Makedonium and a vast mural in Prilep.

This elegant white villa (Офицерски Дом/Ofitserski Dom) has housed the tourist office since 2022. It was built for the Ottoman governor from 1911 and completed in 1919, when the town had already passed into Serbian control. Used as a military officers' club until the 2000s, it was restored in 2021. The house is surrounded by the Macedonian Phalanx Park, which pays tribute to the troops of Alexander the Great. At the entrance stands the beautiful statue of partisan Stevan Naumov (1920-1942) in the socialist realist style.

This elegant little mosque (Хаџи Махмуд-Бег Џамија/Hadži Mahmud-Beg Džamija) was built in 1522 thanks to a donation from the fierce governor Hadji Mahmut Bey, nicknamed Tomruk Ağa ("prison guard" in Turkish). The mosque was renowned for its spirit of tolerance. It was home to a medersa (Koranic school) and Dervish poets. Damaged by German bombardment during the First World War and by an earthquake, which shattered its minaret, in 1996, it was renovated in 2023 thanks to funding from Turkey.

This vast 65 m-long building (Безистен/Bezisten) is one of the city's oldest Ottoman edifices, having probably been built in the late ^15th century. It is a bezistan (from the Persian bazzāzestān, "place of the drapers") where merchants' most precious goods were stored for the night: silks, gold, jewelry, etc. Renovated in Baroque style in the ^19th century, it is now a little dilapidated but houses a number of shops and services. On the south side is the pleasant terrace of Café Vezilka.

The National Museum of the Ilinden Uprising and the Republic of Kruševo (Музеј на Илинденското Востание и Крушевската Република/Muzej na Ilindenskoto Vostanie i Kruševskata Republik) is housed in an attractive ^19th-century house that belonged to the Tomalevski family. It was here that the Republic of Kruševo was declared on August 4, 1903, at the start of the Ilinden uprising against the Ottoman Empire (August 2-November 25, 1903). In the weeks leading up to the uprising, the place served as a clandestine arsenal: it was here that lead was smelted to make ammunition, that the famous little wooden cannons were cobbled together, but also that hundreds of bought or stolen weapons and thousands of cartridges stolen from Ottoman garrisons were stored. Established in 1953, the museum houses an eclectic collection of weapons used by the Kruševo insurgents until the fall of the Republic on August 13, 1913: handguns, sabres, knives, old petrels and Western-made rifles. These include Mauser rifles and Smith & Wesson pistols from the Ottoman army, a pistol from the Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne, a Winchester M1897 pump-action shotgun and Lebel rifles from Châtellerault. The exhibition is accompanied by period photos, maps and documents. But the highlights are the Belgian Nagant revolver and the Austro-Hungarian Steyr-Mannlicher rifle that belonged to uprising leader Nikola Karev.

This museum (Музеј за Тутун/Muzej za Tutun) is located within the Prilep Tobacco Factory (Тутунски Комбинат ад Прилеп) and is part of the Prilep National Museum. It was founded in 1973 to mark the factory's centenary and the four centuries of tobacco cultivation in Pelagonia. The exhibition features over 2,500 objects: snuffboxes, pipes, water pipes, opium pipes, hookahs, lighters, narcotics, as well as tobacco production and handling objects, advertising objects, tobacco products, paintings, photo collections and sculptures.

This Orthodox church (Црква Свети Никола/Crkva Sveti Nikola) features frescoes dating from 1271 that survived the destruction of the First World War. Located in the hamlet of Manastir, 690 m above sea level, it was part of a monastery founded by Byzantine aristocrat Alexis Comnenus in 1095 and restored in 1266 by a higoumen (abbot) named Akakios. The rest of the buildings were destroyed in 1916. The church takes the form of a basilica with three naves: there are only four buildings of this type in the country, including Saint Sophia Cathedral in Ohrid. The central nave features scenes from the life of Christ and portraits of saints Demetrios, George, Theodore Tiron and Theodore the Stratilate. The south aisle is decorated with scenes from the life of Saint Nicholas. In the north aisle, the portrait of the higoumene Akakios, who carries the church in miniature, remains. Manastir officially has three inhabitants and is part of the mountainous Mariovo region. Intense fighting took place here between the Serbian and Bulgarian armies in September 1916. Some 23 km to the south as the crow flies, on the summit of Mount Kajmakčalan (2,528 m above sea level), between Greece and northern Macedonia, stands a chapel that preserves the skulls of some of the 4,643 Serbian soldiers who died during the confrontation. The Bulgarians suffered fewer casualties (1,876 dead), but were forced to retreat, allowing French, Serbian and Russian troops to take Bitola in November 1916.

This mosque (Исхак Челеби Џамија/Ishak Čelebi Džamija) dominates the city center with its 48 m-high minaret. It was built around 1506 thanks to a donation from the cadi (Muslim judge) Ishak Çelebi, and for a long time was the nerve center of Monastrir/Bitola, along with the Yeni mosque. Altered several times over the centuries, it features an interior mezzanine built by French workers in 1912. Recently restored thanks to Turkish funding, the mosque now serves as a tekké for a small Sufi community.

This 600^m2 square (Плоштад Магнолија/Ploštad Magnolija) features an 8.5 m-high equestrian statue of Philip II of Macedonia dating from 2011 and a fountain representing the "Vergina sun" found in the king's tomb in Greek Macedonia. The square owes its name to the Magnolija building constructed in the 1860s to house the Austro-Hungarian consulate. Located at no. 37 Širok-Sokak Street, it now houses the Russian Consulate and the Bure bar. Opposite, at no. 28, note the beautiful corbelled building from the same period.

This Orthodox monastery (Манастир Трескавец/Manastir Treskavec), whose name means "struck by lightning", is completely isolated at 1,280 m above sea level. Dedicated to the dormition of the Mother of God, it houses precious frescoes from the ^14th and ^15th centuries. It also boasts splendid views over the Pelagonian plain and Mount Zlatovrv ("Golden"), just next door, at 1,422 m altitude. The complex was founded by the Serbian king Milutin around 1284 and was subsequently enlarged by his grandson Emperor Dušan, then by the Byzantine emperors Andronic II and Michael IX. But the site's occupation goes back much further. The rock-hewn seats that have guarded the entrance to the site for over 2,000 years bear witness to this. Remains of a temple to Apollo, a fortified town and a ^5th-6th century church have also been discovered. The object of a violent conflict between the Serbian and Macedonian Churches in 2004, Treskavec was inscribed on Unesco's List of World Heritage in Danger from 2006 to 2008. After renovation, some of the ^19th-century annex buildings were destroyed by fire in 2013.

Cohort of angels. Fortunately, the catholicon (main church) was spared. It features a central dome, a narthex and an exonarthex with two domes. Some of the medieval frescoes were lost or badly restored in the ^19th century. However, the exonarthex (fore-vestibule) retains a decoration painted between 1340 and 1360, depicting texts by the ^11th-century Greek poet Christophe de Mytilène. The north cupola features exceptional ^15th-century frescoes by artists from the Kastoria school (Greece). Surrounding Christ, dressed as a Byzantine emperor, is the oldest complete representation of the Heavenly Court, a sort of hierarchical array of the nine types of angelic creatures. The seraphim lead the way. Covered in feathers, they are considered to be the creatures "most inflamed with God's love". Next come the cherubim, symbols of wisdom and science, then the thrones, which turn on themselves and embody God's justice and authority. Then come the dominions, virtues and powers. Behind them are the principalities and archangels. The monastery may also be of interest to hikers. Our tip: take a cab up to the monastery (approx. MKD 500) and then down the superb, relatively easy trail from the monastery to Prilep via the Marko Towers (10 km, 600 m ascent, approx. 3.5 hrs walk).

This Orthodox monastery (Поречки Манастир/Porečki Manastir) was founded around 1282 by the Serbian king Milutin. But most of the current buildings date from the ^19th century. These form a beautiful enclosure around the catholicon, which houses ^18th-century frescoes and fragments of paintings dating from the ^11th to ^13th centuries. On the road to Gorni Manastirec (pop. 10) is a chapel-shaped ossuary built in 1938. It houses the remains of 103 Serbian and pro-Serb monks and inhabitants who were massacred by the Bulgarian army on January 6, 1916.

Located in a park, this 32 m-high tower (Саат-Кула/Saat-Kula) was erected around 1830 to replace a ^16th-century tower. Originally used to indicate prayer times to Muslim inhabitants, it was fitted with a classical clock in 1912, then a Christian cross at its top in 1991. Next to it is a plaque in honor of Swiss Gustave Moynier (1826-1910), president of the International Red Cross and founder of the Bitola Red Cross Committee.

This cemetery (Еврејски Гробишта/Evrejski Grobišta) is marked by a large white Moorish-style portico built in the 1920s. It is the oldest Sephardic burial site in the Balkans. It houses around a thousand tombs, the oldest of which date back to 1497, five years after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. Monastir/Bitola had up to 5,000 Sephardic inhabitants in the ^19th century. Almost the entire community (3,351 people) was massacred by the Germans in March 1943 at the Treblinka camp in Poland.

This small Orthodox church (Црква Свети Никола/Crkva Sveti Nikola) is home to some of the oldest and best-preserved Byzantine frescoes in the country. However, the dating of these frescoes is the subject of much debate among specialists. The building is also distinguished by its unusual architecture: a short but tall single nave. It was built in two phases, between 1190 and 1290, and belongs to the Varoš district below the Marko towers. The delightful little garden surrounding the building has yielded a wealth of archaeological discoveries: the remains of Slavic dwellings, 170 Greek tombs dating from the ^12th to the ^19th century, and Roman and Serbian jewelry and coins on display at Prilep's national museum. On the façade, three niches are adorned with portraits of Saint Nicholas, painted in the late ^13th century, and two other saints, in the upper niches, added in the ^17th century. At the entrance, an inscription states that the church was completed in 1298 thanks to a donation from a nobleman named Vega, his son Kapsa and his wife Maria. Inside, the decor is superb, with magnificent, well-preserved colors.

Problematic dating. Art historians do not agree with each other. For some, the frescoes were painted in two distinct periods: in 1191 for those in the apse (Adoration of the Lamb of God and Virgin on throne) and around 1298 for the nave (cycles of the Passion and Orthodox feasts, large portraits of saints and prophets). The others would have been painted at the same time, around 1298, but by two separate teams: the apse adopts a "conservative" style similar to the frescoes in the church of St. Panteleimon in Nerezi (near Skopje), while the program for the rest of the church follows a more innovative trend that developed in the Byzantine Empire from the second half of the ^13th century onwards. Among these, the depictions of the Last Supper and Jesus on the Mount of Olives are among the finest in the country. The district of Varoš is a former village that was recently incorporated into the town of Prilep. In the Middle Ages, it was the seat of the Pelagonian bishopric, which explains the presence here of numerous churches, including the ^13th-century Church of St. Demetrios, the ^14th-century Churches of St. Athanasius, St. Peter and St. Paul and the Monastery of Varoš, as well as the ^15th-century Church of the Mother of God.

This Orthodox monastery (Зрзески Манастир/Zrzeski Manastir) has a bedtime name (pronounced "zerzé"), but it's renowned for its ^16th-century frescoes, icons and enchanting setting. Surrounded by cliffs and oak forests, it sits atop a hill at 960 m altitude. Dominated by Mount Dautica (2,178 m), it offers sweeping views over the Pelagonian plain. The complex was founded around 1340 by a Serbian monk named German, and became an important staging post for Serbian kings in the region. It then went through several phases of decline and rebirth, before being fully restored in 2016. Today, it is home to a dozen monks and novices who paint and sell icons. There are several churches and the remains of a religious occupation dating back to the^5th century. Beneath the retaining wall and cliff face lie some 30 caves that served as cells, workshops and tombs for hermits from the ^9th century onwards. It's possible to visit around ten of them. Among them, an ancient chapel preserves a badly damaged fresco.

Onufri frescoes. The highlight of the visit is the catholicon. The main church is dedicated to the Transfiguration (Преображение/Preobraženje), the episode in which Christ reveals his divine nature to the apostles Peter, James and John. Modest in size, without a dome or transept, it was built in the ^14th century and remodeled many times. The interior houses frescoes painted in 1535 by Onufri, Albania's greatest painter, whose secret of sparkling reds has never been discovered. But about half of his works have disappeared here, especially on the vault. Those that remain bear the marks of regular hammering to adhere a plaster to paint new frescoes in the ^18th century. The latter, of poor workmanship, were removed in 1963 to restore one of the masterpieces by the archpriest and painter Onufri. The lower sections are dedicated to the founders of Christian monasticism. Two small scenes are painted on either side of the door: on the left, the apparition of the angel to Saint Pachomius the Great, considered the founder of Christian cenobitism in the ^4th century; on the right, the scene in which Saint Mary the Egyptian, a former prostitute who became a hermit in the^5th century, receives communion from the anchorite Zosimus of Palestine. On the upper sections, the west wall is decorated with the scene of the Communion of the Apostles. Above is a rare depiction of the Old Testament Trinity: the three angels who received Abraham's hospitality are seated before the calf that has just been killed for them. Note, on the left, the heifer lamenting her slaughtered calf: this is the symbol of Mary mourning the death of Christ. The upper sections of the side walls are decorated with the Passion cycle. Five scenes are partially preserved. On the north wall, Christ's death is evoked by the theme of the Anapeson: the adolescent Jesus asleep with his eyes open, with Mary at his side.

Miraculous icons. The wooden iconostasis dates from the ^18th century. It has no real artistic merit, and its two large icons are copies. But not just any copies. These are copies of the country's most famous icons, now on display at the Museum of North Macedonia in Skopje: Christ of Salvation and Eternal Life, painted by Metropolitan Jovan in 1394, and the Virgin Pelagonitissa ("of Pelagonia"), painted by his brother Makarije Zograf in 1422. Note their location. As a rule, the Virgin's icon is placed to the left of the royal doors. Here, however, the Pelagonitissa is on the right and Christ on the left. This is a Zrze tradition. According to legend, the two icons miraculously switched places one night. In the morning, the monks put them back in place, but the following night, the two sacred images were once again found inverted, as if the Virgin Mary insisted on looking in the direction of her son. Since then, the monks have never replaced the two icons (or their copies).

Orthodox Trinity. Behind the iconostasis, the sanctuary is reserved for the communion clergy. But you can still see some of Onufri's frescoes. The apse is adorned with an Orante, the traditional representation of the "praying" Mother of God(orans in Latin), standing with hands raised and outstretched. Nicknamed the "Virgin of the Sign", she symbolizes the arrival of Christ. In a medallion, she carries the rare Christ Emmanuel ("He who will come as Savior", usually depicted as an adolescent). Even more exceptional, however, is the "Christ with three faces" medallion on the vault above the Orante: a figure with three heads, youthful and beardless, representing the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This theme, which Onufri would later repeat in the churches of Kastoria (Greece) and Elbasan (Albania), was unprecedented in the ^16th century. It appeared in a context where some of the local clergy were under Catholic influence. This representation reaffirmed the Orthodox dogma that the Holy Spirit proceeds from God. Catholics, on the other hand, defend the idea of the Filioque ("and of the Son" in Latin), i.e. that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both God and Christ. This is the main point of theological divergence between Eastern and Western Christians.

This approximately 1.3-hectare pedestrian esplanade (Плоштад Методија Андонов-Ченто/Ploštad Metodija Andonov-Čento) forms Prilep's central square. Here you'll find the tourist office kiosk, located along Goce-Delčev Boulevard, as well as numerous stores, cafés and restaurants with terraces. To the east, the square is bordered by the small Ottoman quarter of the Old Bazaar, itself home to shops of all kinds, and beyond which stand the Clock Tower and the ruins of the Sharia Mosque. The square is named after Prilep politician Metodija Andonov-Čento (1902-1957), who died in prison for his anti-Yugoslav stance. It is home to a statue in his honor, as well as two other recent monuments representing Serbian prince Marko Mrnjavčević (c. 1335-1395) and Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary Gorče Petrov (1865-1921). The square continues south along the pedestrian street named in honor of partisan Metodija Šatorov-Šarlo (1897-1944) to the Prilep River (Прилепска Река/Prilepska Reka), a tributary of the Crna Reka. To the north, beyond Goce-Delčev Boulevard, lies the small Metodija-Andonov-Čento municipal park (approx. 1 ha). This is adorned with a recent statue of Alexander the Great, here wearing a sarissa, the long spear that equipped Macedonian phalanxes. Bordered on the north by the town hall building, the park also features a fountain and a monument to Kruševo pop singer Toše Proeski (1981-2007).

This former ^19th-century warehouse (Битолска Магаза/Bitolska Magaza) is superb with its small courtyard, two-storey ashlar and slate roof. It can be visited occasionally, as it houses an art gallery where the municipality organizes temporary exhibitions. This building is one of the few survivors of a whole series of magazas (warehouses) built "en dur" after a wave of fires in the town in the ^mid-19th century destroyed valuable goods previously stored in wooden structures.

This Ottoman mosque (Чарши Џамија/Carši Džamija) is in a state of ruin. It was set on fire by local residents at the end of the civil war in 2001, and the municipality is opposed to its reconstruction. The building was constructed in the early ^15th century and retains most of its minaret, which originally stood 25 m high. The town also boasts another abandoned ^15th-century mosque, along the Prilep river, and a more recent mosque north of the town center.

Founded in 1952, this museum and national institute (НУ Музеј Прилеп/NU Muzej Prilep) is housed in a former World War II Bulgarian police station. It houses collections of history, ethnology and archaeology. The latter is rather rich, with objects and weapons from Neolithic sites in the region, as well as Greek tombs, Serbian and Roman coins and jewelry found in the Varoš district. The history section features some 200 Byzantine and post-Byzantine icons.

Created in 1961, this memorial (Могила на Непобедените/Mogila na Nepobedenite) houses eight enigmatic white sculpted stones evoking flowers or chess pieces. Set in the 7-hectare Revolution Park, it pays tribute to the 800 or so partisans from the region who died during the Second World War. The memorial is the work of the great Serbian designer and architect Bogdan Bogdanović (1922-2010), whose work includes the Flower Monument in the former Jasenovac concentration camp between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia.

This park (Градски Парк/Gradski Park) extends over 10 ha and 740 m in length to the south of Širok-Sokak. Bordered by the former railway station to the east and FK Pelister soccer club's Petar-Miloševski stadium to the west, it is planted with pine, acacia and lime trees. It was created in 1901 by Governor Abdülkerim Paşa. It was here that the officers of the Young Turk movement celebrated their victory on July 24, 1908, when Sultan Abdülhamid restored the Constitution of 1876.

This amazing private museum (Авто & Eтно Музеј/Avto & Etno Muzej) features collections of vintage cars and motorcycles, musical instruments, World War I weapons and traditional costumes. The owner, Boris Tanevski, is very proud of his Simca Ariane and Peugeot 404, his old Opel, Plymouth and Ford, his Russian Moskvič and his Yugoslav Zastava and Volkswagen. After the visit, it's possible to eat and even sleep on site (€30/55 for two with breakfast) to try out the swimming pool and homemade rakija.

This Orthodox church (Црква Свети Никола/Crkva Sveti Nikola) is the largest in Kruševo. Founded in 1832, it dominates the bazaar district. Destroyed during the 1903 uprising and rebuilt in 1907, it houses a superb iconostasis attributed to Petar Filipovski (1780-1854). It is believed to be the last work of the great cabinetmaker, who was also responsible for the iconostases of the St. John-Bigorski monastery and the Church of St. Saviour in Skopje. Among the icons, the oldest dates back to 1884.

Located on a hill overlooking Prilep at an altitude of 900 m, these "towers" (Маркови Кули/Markovi Kuli) are both rock formations of volcanic origin and the remains of a fortified town. Included on the Unesco tentative list, the site offers beautiful views over the Pelagonian plain and the surrounding massifs. The citadel was built in the second half of the ^14th century on the initiative of the Serbian king Vukašin Mrnjavčević (c. 1320-1371) and his son Prince Marko (c. 1335-1395), whose name remains associated with the site. Both were vassals of the Ottomans and the last two Christian rulers to rule what is now North Macedonia. The hill has been inhabited at least since antiquity, fortified by the Romans and equipped with the first ramparts in the ^13th century. During the reign of the Mrnjavčević family, the small medieval town extended over a 3.6-hectare acropolis surrounded by two rows of ramparts. Three well-preserved square towers stand in the southern part, just above Prilep. After the death of Prince Marko, the Ottomans took possession of the citadel, and the inhabitants moved below, to the present-day district of Varoš. To reach the fortress ruins, follow the Varoš-Markovi Kuli road. At the strange rock formation known as the "Elephant", the asphalt gives way to a carriage road. The road ends near the "towers", but it's another 15-minute walk to get there.