Things to see and do Stip

Opened in 2014, this museum (Музеј на Дејците на ВМРО/Muzej na Dejcite na VMRO) is housed in the beautiful Andronov House, which dates back to the ^19th century. It is dedicated to the local figures of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO, 1894-1934), which fought for the attachment to Bulgaria and/or the independence of Slavic Macedonia. Designed under the nationalist and populist Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski (2006-2016), it is a bit ridiculous with its wax statues and its big hoofed propaganda. But around it, the neighborhood of Novo Selo is pleasant.

This pedestrian square (Плоштад Слобода) forms the center of Štip. It took its present form in the 1970s and is not conspicuous for its beauty. It concentrates administrative buildings, including the post office, cafes, fast food and some shops. Nearby are two landmark buildings: the bezistan (30 m to the northwest) and the clock tower (120 m to the north). Both are accessible through passages through the buildings. To the south, towards the Otinja, the square is adorned with a rather ugly statue of Alexander the Great (2010).

This strange stone wall (Ѓаволски Ѕид/Gjavolski Zid) is a natural geological formation located at 235 m above sea level, in the small Bogoslovec massif, above the Bregalnica River. Over a length of 300-400 m, limestone and sandstone blocks rise up to form a vertical wall which, in its most impressive part, is 5 m high and 2.5 m wide. This phenomenon is due to various factors, including erosion. The site is associated with many legends and theories: fortress of Alexander the Great, intervention of extraterrestrials..

This ruined fortress (Тврдина Исар/Tvrdina Isar) offers a beautiful panorama. Placed on a hilltop plateau, 360 m above sea level, it overlooks the city to the west, but also the confluence of the Bregalnica and Otinja rivers to the south, from a height of 100 m. The site was permanently occupied from the ^3rd century BC by miners. They exploited an iron deposit on the site. The plateau was then equipped with a wall defending an area of 7 ha. Later, in the Middle Ages, when the deposit was exhausted, only a part of the plateau was used. The Bulgarian and Byzantine empires succeeded one another here and built powerful walls, in some places more than 1.50 m wide. These are partly preserved as well as the remains of a keep. Two necropolises, one ancient, the other medieval, have also been discovered, as well as a basilica and a cistern. The site was occupied again by the Serbs in the ^14th century, then abandoned by the Ottomans in the ^17th century. The road that leads there stops in front of the necropolis of the partisans of the Second World War dating from 1974. It is marked by beautiful stone blocks carved by the Serbian designer Bogdan Bogdanović (1922-2010). Then you have to climb a long series of steps to reach the top. The most courageous can make the whole climb on foot: a path starts in the city and passes by the beautiful church of Archangel Michael erected in 1332. But this one lost its frescoes when it was transformed into mosque.

This site (Археолошки Локалитет Баргала) contains the remains of the Roman and Byzantine city of Bargala, founded in the late ^4th century and abandoned during the ^7th century invasions. The bases of an enclosure wall, baths, stores and workshops are visible, as well as those of a triple-naved basilica, four columns of which have been raised. To the south-east of the site, the two domes of the beautiful church of Saint George, built during the Bulgarian Empire in the ^9th or ^10th century, are also visible.

This museum (Музеј на Град Штип) is the largest, richest and best presented in Eastern Macedonia. Founded in 1950, it is housed in the former complex of the Arsovi family, which dates back to the ^19th century. In the building to the left of the ticket office is the beautiful archaeological collection. Here you can see the ceramics of the Anzabegovo-Vršnik culture, which developed in the Bregalnica Valley between Kočani and Štip from 5300 to 4200 BCThis is also where most of the finds from the sites of Bargala and the Isar fortress are grouped: for example, statuettes of Greek deities from the Roman period, but also rarer objects left by the Avars who invaded the region in the ^6th century. A small ethnological exhibition is relegated to a room in the basement. The second building, to the right of the ticket office, houses the history department, which focuses on the revolt movements of the ^19th century and the wars of the ^20th century. One part is dedicated to the city's Jewish community, which was wiped out by the Holocaust in 1943. Štip has only one Jewish family left. It also has an old Jewish cemetery, just above the municipal cemetery, 3 km southwest of the center. A memorial to Jewish victims has stood next to the museum since 1985. In addition, the museum has two other collections: icons in the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God (Novo Selo district, 1.4 km east) and works of art in the bezistan.