The monastery of St. Naum

The monastery of St. Naum

The monastery of St. Naum is located on the southeast side of Lake Ohrid, in the immediate vicinity of the Macedonian-Albanian border. Its building is linked to the name of St. Naum, the closest associate of St. Clement of Ohrid. Records about the life and work of St. Naum can be found in three literature works dedicated to his life. Also the Archbishop of Ohrid, Constantine Cavassila, wrote about him. In the Historical Archives of Ohrid there is a Chronicle written by a priest that lived in the second half of XIX century. It reveals a series of interesting details about the construction of the monastery, the estate of the church, and the lives of the monks. Among other things, there is a record about a disastrous fire that occurred on the night of 2nd and 3rd February 1875, when the largest part of the monastery compound was burnt to ashes.

Towards the end of his life St. Naum of Ohrid built the monastery St. Archangel where he was buried in 910. The church of Naum was similar to the monastery of Clement, St. Pantheleimon, and was built in a trefoil shape.

In the course of the archaeological excavations carried out after the Second World War, only the foundations and part of the walls of that church were discovered. It is unknown when the church was ruined, but the assumption is that it happened before the arrival of the Turks.

Iconostas in St. Naum

According to the inscriptions in the church, the frescoes were painted in the period of the priest Stefan, in 1806. They were painted by the fresco artist Trpo, son of the Master Constantine from Korcha, Albania.

Particularly impressive are the scenes from the life and miracles of St. Naum of Ohrid. They were painted in he second zone of the chapel above Naum's tomb. The five painted scenes were passed from one generation to another, and are deemed to be the miracles of Naum. These are: "Harnessing the Bear", "The Stupefied Monk Who Tried to Steal the Body of Saint Naum From His Tomb", "Healing of the Mentally Disturbed", "Horse Thief Who Was Caught at the Gates of the Monastery Church at Dawn" and "The Bucket Leaves Traces in the Rock". The belief that St. Naum was capable to heal the mentally disturbed predominates. According to some sources, a "hospital" was operating within the monastery in 1662.

The iconostasis in the church was carved in 1711. The authors are unknown. They were influenced by the woodcarving traditions of Mount Athos and they created a genuine masterpiece. During the same year the artist Constantine painted the dais and the holiday icons. Most outstanding are the icons "Crucifixion" and "Entrance into Jerusalem". The icons of the iconostasis are treated as one of the best achievements from the first part of XVIII century.

The church of St.Sofija

The church of St. Sofia

The church of St. Sofia is one of the largest medieval churches on this territory. For a long time it was the cathedral church ("Great Church") of the Ohrid Archiepiscopate whose ecclesiastical authority covered the territories up to the river Danube to the north, the Albanian coast to the west, and the Bay of Thessalonica to the east.

The church was probably used as a cathedral way back in the past, in the period of the Czar Samuel who, in the late X century, moved his throne from Prespa to Ohrid. The other assumption is that there used to be another church on the same site during the reign of the Macedonian Czar Samuel, and that later on this church was ruined for unknown reasons. The date of the construction of that church is uncertain because there are no inscriptions that help reveal it. It is also mentioned that today's church was either built or restored during the period of the Archbishop Leo who was on the throne of the Church in the period between 1035-1056. His esteemed ecclesiastical principal became a donor of the painting decorations in the church of St. Sofia.

The original church had only one main dome. In the XIV century an opulent external nartex was constructed. Its original shape was a three-naval basilica with a transept, a dome, and galleries on the side naves. It had a parvis and separate chapels above the northern and southern altar sections even in XI century. Almost three centuries later, during the period of the Archbishop Gregorius, a new parvis was built. It represents the climax of the Macedonian XIV-century culture. The concept of the extended parvis was horizontal, with portico on the ground, and galleries on the first floor. Above the Gregorious Gallery, on the northern and southern sides, there were separate sections with towers.

With the arrival of the Turks, the church St. Sofia was converted into a mosque. They "took care" to reshape the church almost entirely so that it could serve the Muslim religion. The frescoes were whitewashed, the ornamented plates from the iconostasis were used for constructing the internal staircase, and a minaret was built above the northwest dome. These undertakings distorted the structure of the entire church.

In the period from 1950 to 1957 extensive conservatory and restoration activities were performed. The frescoes were cleaned and conserved, and also some reconstruction work was done. The fresco paintings in the church are amongst the highest achievements in medieval painting in Macedonia and even wider. At that time Ohrid was under the direct authority of the Constantinople Patriarchate, so these are the most important preserved works of Byzantine monumental painting. The donor of the fresco paintings, one of the most learned men of the time, the Archbishop Leo, directly influenced the selection of the compositions painted in the XI century.

Preserved frescoes from XI, XII, and XIV century can be found in the temple of St. Sofia.

National museum

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM

The National Museum is located in the Robev family house, a masterpiece of 19th century Ohrid town architecture, in Tzar Samuel street which contains the rare surviving houses in the hilly part of the town designed by builders from the surroundings of Debar.

There has been a museum in Ohrid since the beginning of the 16th century when it was the Archiepiscopal Museum (dismantled in 1916) housed in St. Bogorodica Perivlepta’s Church.

The present museum was set up in 1951 and is one of the few museums in Macedonia whose collection is housed in several different premises: In the one - time Robev and Urania houses in that in which the Ilinden revolutionary Hristo Uzunov was born, in the administrative building of the Institute and the Museum and in the St. Bogorodica Perivlepta’s Church Museum complex, which houses the Gallery of Ohrid Icons from the 11th to the 19th centuries and the Permanent Exhibition of Slavonic Literacy.

The National Museum’s archeological collection contains findings dating from prehistoric times and from the classical and mediaeval periods of Ohrid’s history. It also possesses a rich collection of Ohrid’s icons, a numismatic collection of c. 9000 coins dating from the classical period and right up to the later Middle Ages and various items and documents from the period of the Rebirth, the Ilinden Uprising and the National Liberation War.

Religion

The majority of the citizens of Ohrid are members of the Christian (Orthodox) religious parish and part of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. The wider region of Ohrid, Struga, Kicevo, Debar, and Makedonski Brod are within the Debar-Kicevo Eparchy. Its contemporary name is from XVII century, whereas the original name, Dremvica-Velicka Eparchy, was related to the founder of the Slavonic Church, St. Clement of Ohrid (late IX and the beginning of X century). Throughout the history the name changed many times, but the one that prevailed was Velicka Eparchy. It was also reestablished by that name 16th and 17th July 1967 when the Macedonian Orthodox Church was promulgated autocephalous.

On the Church and Peoples' Council held 7th October 1968 the Eparchy was renamed into Debar-Kicevo Eparchy. Its first elected Archpriest was Metropolitan Metodij (1967-1976). The second Archpriest was Metropolitan Angelarij (1977-1981), who from this Eparchy was elected as Head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. The present (third) Metropolitan is Timotej, elected in 1981

The Debar-Kicevo Eparchy covers five church units: in the regions of Ohrid, Struga, Kicevo, Debar, and Makedonski Brod. They consist of 35 parishes with 30 practicing priests.

The Ohrid Archpriest unit consists of 16 parishes with 14 priests. The town itself covers eight parishes. Although there are numerous churches in the town, four of them are parish churches: "St. Bogorodica Perivlepta (St. Clement) - cathedral church), "St. Nicholas - Gerakomija", "St. Bogorodica -Kamensko", "St. Gorgi" and "Sveta Troica (Holy Trinity)".

There are many monasteries in the Debar-Kicevo Eparchy, and monks live in four of them. Two are monasteries for men (St. Naum and St Jovan Bigorski), while in the monasteries St. Bogorodica Precista, near Kicevo, and St. Petka, near Ohrid, are monasteries for women.

In addition to the great Christian Orthodox Holidays (Christmas, Easter, Epiphany), in Ohrid the most solemn are the festivities dedicated to the days of the patrons of the churches and monasteries, called Church and Peoples fairs. The atmosphere during the festivities dedicated to St. Clement of Ohrid (8-9 August), St. Naum of Ohrid (2-3 July), St. Stefan (14-15 August), St. Petka (7-8 August), St. Erazmo (14-15 June), is magnificent, as well as during the Holidays dedicated the Holy Mother (in particular 20 and 21 September) in the monastery St. Bogorodica Precista near Kicevo, and on 10th and 11th September on the date of the death of St. John the Baptist in the monastery of St. Jovan Bigorski near Debar.

Ohrid festival

Chroniclers have written: "The musical and theatre festival called "Ohrid Summer" was born on 4th August 1961 under the vaults of the cathedral temple of St. Sofia. The Primadonna of the Opera within the Macedonian National Theatre from Skopje, Ana Lipsa-Tofovic, followed by Ladislav Predlik on piano, performed the arias of Stradella, Rossi, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, and Gluck. The following year Vladimir Ruzgak (Croatia), the Slovenian Octet (Slovenia), Martina Arojo (USA), and once again Ana Lipsa-Tofovic confirmed the fact that the temple of the ancient Ohrid Archiepiscopate can also be the temple of arts.

In 1963 the Festival started with a concept. Unfortunately, due to the disastrous earthquake in Skopje only a few of the planned 13 performances took place.

Key moment in the development of the Festival was the establishment of a separate Festival Subsidiary 5th March 1964. The next years the quality of the festival improved: in 1964 the first theatre play was performed ("As you like it" by William Shakespeare); in 1967 the first ballet ("The Ohrid Legend" by Stevan Hristic); and in 1971 the first opera "Dido and Aeneas" by Henry Percil).

In its thriving years "Ohrid Summer" started to act as a Musical Academy. The presence of the great instrumental virtuosos was used for organizing special seminars aiming at passing the experience to the new generation. Through the hands of the esteemed maestro such as Elephterio Papastavro (cello), Jeanne Blanchard (piano), Leonid Kogan (violin), Aldo Chiccolini (piano), Andre Navara (cello), Octav Enigharesco and Johnny Becky (soloists), Eugenia Chugaieva (violin), Ikhukko Endo (piano), and Arbo Valdma (piano), generations of musicians took part in these seminars. They, later on in their lives, gained affirmation on the musical stages throughout the world.

The Festival aspired at becoming a part of the large family of the World's musical festivals. In that respect, every year, the creators of the Festival added new names that have marked the performing arts in the world. Those names in the initial years of the Festival were Andre Navara (cello) and Leonid Kogan (violin). The range of famous musicians who marked the first decade included: Sviatoslav Rihter, Aldo Chiccolini, Adre Vats and Grigorij Sokolov (piano, Ruggiero Ricchi, Salvadore Akhardo, Hainrich Sherring, (violin), the chello player Mstislav Rostopovic, The Bach Chamber Orchestra, The Romanian Madrigalists, The Slovenian Vocal Octet, and others.

Biljana`s sources