Tourism in Macedonia

Monastery complex St.Naum

The modern asphalt road passes through the fisherman settlements Peštani and Trpejca in which lately pulses the life in the space contemporary urbanized. The road leads us to the modern equipped hotels near the churches Holy Mother of God Peštanska and the monastery church St. Zaum dated from 14th century and decorated with exceptional fresco-decoration.
The monastery church dedicated to the Holy archangels Gavril and Mihail is built on the high steep cliff.East of the monastery, in the immediate environment, widely is spread the abundant spring of the Crni Drim River. It is really impressive to see the picture of the transparent and cold waters and the small islands overgrown in flourishing vegetation. St. Naum choose this calm and noble wildness to be his habitat, place from where he developed the noble mission that served to the enlightenment of the people. The original monastery church that was built by Naum had a form of trikonhos with narthex and was very close to the one of Clement. The grave of Naum was constructed on the southeast part of the narthex, on the same place as the grave of Clement in Ohrid. During the reconstruction, in the first phase, the church got the form of written cross in a rectangular space without cupola. The central nave was arched by its whole length. From the original church only the tibilon is preserved, on which columns there are Cyrillic and Glagolitic letters engraved. The second phase of the refurbishment of the church happened before 1711. Then the central dome was penetrated and the current cupola was built on a square base. Later on in the angles of the narthex square columns were built, connected with arches that carry the newly built cupola. In 1799 with "effort and expense of the abbot Stefan, the spire of the grave chapel was renovated. On the western façade of the tribilon there is the composition "The anthem of Virgin" that originates of the first phase of the renewal of the church in 16th-17th century. According to the inscription placed on the south side of the Naum’s chapel, during the time of the prophet Stefan, on June 31, 1800 the painting of the church was finished by the painter Trpo from Korca. The fresco-decoration is dedicated to the life and miracles of St.Naum. From St.Naum’s life we mention the compositions: "The Dormition of St.Naum of Ohrid" where there are images of the Slavic teachers Kiril and Metodij and their pupils, composition named "Sedmocislenici" In the grave chapel we would mention the compositions related with the life and miracles of St.Naum: "Curing the Epileptics" , "Exile of Naum by Bogomils", "Curing the Tzar’s Dauther" and many others. The painted portrait of the jeromonah Stefan, dating from the same period as the fresco-decorations-1800, is distinguished by the artistic treatment compared with the other figures of saints. The description of the personality and his dignity in the role of ktitor (donor) makes this portrait one of the most beautiful portraits from this period in Macedonia. According to the preserved inscription placed above the west entrance from the inner side, the jeromonah Stefan, acting as ktitor, renovated the fresco-decorations in the church, and the painter was "Trpo Zograph, son of Konstantin Zograph from Korca. Year 1806, September 6." The same year the Tribilon (entrance with three columns) and the narthex were painted. The interior of the church is decorated with iconostasis divided into five horizontal parts, and on the top there is a big cross, two dragons on the top of the cross and two flanked icons. The iconostasis is done in the technique of shallow woodcarving, with exception of the friz that is deeply engraved, which mark the introduction of the proficient engraving in our country. The works on the iconostasis were completed in 1711 by masters-woodcarvers who gained their experience and skills in Mt.Athos. The throne icons as well as the festive ones from the first and second zone of the iconostasis are painted by the painter Konstantin Jeromonah from Korca in 1711. This information is confirmed by the painter Konstantin himself who signed the icons "The Assembly of Archangels", "Mother of God Eleusa" and "Jesus Christ". He paints the faces in cold gamma, build two-dimensional structure of figures and enrich the cloths with floral elements in combination of golden color.