Tourism in Macedonia

Matka Monastery Sv.BOGORODICA

Near Glumovo, on the left bank of the River Treska at the point where it bursts from a steep and unapproachable canyon into the plain of Skopje is Matka Monastery, dedicated to Our Lady.From an inscription of 1497 above the entrance we learn of one Milica who, finding the church roofless, recovered it, frescoed it, erected a portico and bought a vineyard for the monastery. This inscription also mentions a certain Tosnik, his son Nikola, and the Metropolitan Atanasije. Some repairs were carried out at the end of the nineteenth century. The church has the form of a narrow inscribed cross. Over the central section rises a cupola with four windows and four blind niches supported by pilasters. The altar apse is three-sided on the exterior. The facades of this church are enlivened with leezons while in order to gain more space for painting in the interior, the windows are small and placed high in the walls. The frescoes date from the end of the fifteenth century and have all the characteristics of painting during the Turkish period and represent a considerable falling off in comparison with the nearby St. Andrew's. Five zones of frescoes are visible on the inside of the church: full-length figures, medallions, scenes from The Passion and the Great Feasts. In the floor level zone of the west wall are portraits of the patrons Milica and Nikola who are dressed in bourgois clothes. The painter of the frescoes is a poor master whose colour is muddy and drawing uncertain. As far as the iconographical details are concerned the painter frequently neglects the traditional sequence of the scenes. Matka Monastery is a resort for the population of Skopje and there is a small hotel nearby which is approched by an asphalt road.