Bitola

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Bitola
Битола
Manastir
Bitola Coat of Arms
Bitola (North Macedonia)
Paris plan pointer b jms.svg
Basic data
Region : Pelagonia
Municipality : Bitola
Coordinates : 41 ° 2 ′  N , 21 ° 20 ′  E Coordinates: 41 ° 2 ′ 0 ″  N , 21 ° 20 ′ 0 ″  E
Height : 615  m. i. J.
Area (Opština) : 422.39  km²
Residents : 71,890 (2016)
Inhabitants (Opština) : 91,983 (2016)
Population density : 218 inhabitants per km²
Telephone code : (+389) 047
Postal code : 7000
License plate : BT
Structure and administration
Structure : 66 localities
Mayor : Nataša Petrovska ( SDSM )
Website :

Bitola ( Macedonian Битола ; Albanian and Turkish Manastir ) is the third largest city in North Macedonia with 71,890 inhabitants . It forms an administrative, economic, cultural and political center in the southern part of the country. In addition, Bitola is the administrative seat of the Opština of the same name , which has 91,983 inhabitants.

geography

location

Bitola is located in the southwest of the country at 615  m. i. J. am Dragor , which divides the city into a north and a south half. 15 km west of the city is the Baba mountain range with the Pelister peak ( 2601  m. I. J. ), where a mineral water spring rises. In 1948 a 12,500  hectare area near this mountain range was declared a national park.

To the south lies the important archaeological site of Heracleia Lyncestis .

The distance to the capital Skopje in the north is 169 km, to Ohrid in the west it is 70 km.

climate

In the area there is a transitional climate between continental and Mediterranean . The summers are mostly warm and low in precipitation, the winters rich and cold.

Bitola
Climate diagram
J F. M. A. M. J J A. S. O N D.
 
 
50
 
3
-5
 
 
50
 
7th
-2
 
 
51
 
11
1
 
 
44
 
17th
5
 
 
61
 
22nd
9
 
 
40
 
26th
12
 
 
40
 
29
13
 
 
31
 
29
13
 
 
35
 
25th
10
 
 
56
 
18th
6th
 
 
73
 
12
2
 
 
68
 
5
-3
Temperature in ° C ,  precipitation in mm
Source: wetterkontor.de
Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Bitola
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Max. Temperature ( ° C ) 3.3 6.5 11.3 16.5 21.7 25.9 28.6 28.5 24.8 18.3 11.5 5.3 O 16.9
Min. Temperature (° C) -4.5 -2.3 1.3 5.0 8.7 11.7 13.1 12.8 9.9 5.6 1.7 -2.6 O 5.1
Precipitation ( mm ) 50.1 49.9 51.2 43.8 61.0 40.4 40.2 31.2 35.0 55.9 73.2 68.0 Σ 599.9
Hours of sunshine ( h / d ) 2.6 3.8 5.0 6.6 8.1 9.7 10.8 10.1 8.0 5.7 3.7 2.4 O 6.4
Rainy days ( d ) 8th 8th 8th 7th 8th 6th 5 4th 5 6th 8th 9 Σ 82
Humidity ( % ) 83 78 71 65 65 60 56 57 64 72 79 83 O 69.4
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
3.3
-4.5
6.5
-2.3
11.3
1.3
16.5
5.0
21.7
8.7
25.9
11.7
28.6
13.1
28.5
12.8
24.8
9.9
18.3
5.6
11.5
1.7
5.3
-2.6
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
N
i
e
d
e
r
s
c
h
l
a
g 		50.1
49.9
51.2
43.8
61.0
40.4
40.2
31.2
35.0
55.9
73.2
68.0
  Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Source: wetterkontor.de

population

View from the Baba Mountains to Bitola

74,550 people live in the city itself, divided into the following ethnic groups:

The entire municipality of Bitola, which includes 65 villages in addition to the city, had a population of 86,528 inhabitants (2002).

history

Surname

The place is first mentioned as Bitola by a Bulgarian inscription ( Bitola inscription ) from the 11th century. There the form Битола is written in Old Church Slavonic . Until the conquest by the Ottomans in 1395, this name form predominated for the city. The Macedonian and Bulgarian use this form to this day. The Aromanian is also based on the medieval name with its spelling Bitule . The Ottomans then renamed the city Manastır in the 14th century , which means “monastery” in Turkish , which in turn is derived from the synonymous Middle Greek Μοναστήρι Monastíri .

Antiquity: Illyrians and Macedonians

The region was first inhabited by the Illyrians in ancient times . Then the ancient Macedonians conquered the region.

South of today's city was the ancient Heracleia Lyncestis ( Greek Ηράκλεια Λυγκηστίς Herákleia Lynkestís ), of which significant parts have been excavated in recent decades. In Roman times, Heracleia was an important station on the Via Egnatia and a suburb of the Lynkestis countryside . The city was a bishopric as early as the 4th and 5th centuries , and its metropolitans are attested as participants in ecumenical councils . As a result of the Slavic conquest in the 7th century, the region was plundered several times.

Middle Ages: Immigration of the Slavs, wars between Byzantium and Bulgarians

Around 680 the proto-Bulgarian prince Kuwer settled with parts of the Sermesianoi (descendants of the Roman provincial population of Pannonia ) and the Roman prisoners who were abducted by the Avars 626 after an unsuccessful siege of Thessaloniki (682-684) and a treaty with the Byzantine emperor Constantine IV. Settled in the Bitola area, which was part of the Byzantine theme of Thessalonica . Here erected Kuwer 680 a Khaganate , which is also the name of Bulgaria was wearing. However, the designation of this empire as the West Bulgarian Empire is controversial.

Around 814, during the rule of Krum , the Bitola region became part of the First Bulgarian Empire . Bitola was the Bulgarian capital between 1016 and 1018. It was first mentioned in a document in the Bitola inscription of Tsar Ivan Wladislaw (1015-1018) in the 11th century under the name Bitola . In 1018 the Byzantines recaptured the region and incorporated it into the Bulgaria theme .

Time under the Ottomans: regional political and economic center

In 1395 the Ottomans marched into the city and incorporated it into their empire. Manastır became one of their most important administrative and commercial centers in the European part of the sultanate. The Ottoman government founded a military academy here , the most famous student of which was Mustafa Kemal Ataturk . In the course of the 19th century, most of the great European powers established consular posts in Bitola, which still exist today.

19th and early 20th centuries: the rise of nationalism

View of Manastır , watercolor by Edward Lear , 19th century
Christian Orthodox procession in 1902
Board of the Chetnik Association for Freedom
Turkish Military High School (1909)
Kliment Ohridski Elementary School
Greek high school
Turkish high school

On August 26, 1830, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ottoman Army and Grand Vizier , Reşid Mehmed Pascha , called all southern Albanian landowners ( Beys ) in Monastir , supposedly to reward them for their services to the Ottoman Empire. In reality, around 500 of them were massacred. This act was committed due to the growing nationalism in the Balkans (here the Albanian). The Sultan tried to strengthen his power.

In the course of the Tanzimat reforms of 1856, a Bulgarian parish was formed in the 1860s . The conflict for a Bulgarian church that was independent of the Greek ecumenical patriarchate of Constantinople came to a head when the Bulgarian community of Bitolas founded the Church of Saint Nedelja (consecrated in 1863) and an associated monastery school . After the establishment of the Bulgarian Exarchate , a four-class girls' school was established here. The People's Theater, which was also built in the 19th century, is now the oldest theater in Macedonia. In 1894 the city received a railway connection to Thessaloniki. In 1903 Bitola was the center of the Macedonian Ilinden uprising , which was directed against Ottoman rule.

In 1908 the Congress of Monastir took place in Bitola , at which Albanian intellectuals decided to use the Latin script exclusively . Therefore, in poetic circles, the Albanian Bitola is also called Qyteti i Alfabetit , in German "City of the Alphabet". After the First Balkan War , Bitola fell to Serbia in 1912 .

In 1910 a census was carried out by the Young Turks in the Ottoman Empire. According to this, 6,435 Jews lived in Bitola .

World Wars: Foreign Occupiers

During the First World War , there were several fights in the Bitola area, as the Salonika Front sometimes ran here . French and Serbian troops were on the side of the Entente , Germans , Austrians and Bulgarians from the Central Powers were involved. Bitola belonged to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia until the Second World War , Bulgaria occupied the city between 1941 and 1944, and after the war it belonged to the newly established Yugoslav republic of Macedonia .

After World War II: Yugoslavia and the 2001 conflict

During the time of Yugoslavia , industrialization advanced in Bitola ; numerous factories and mines sprang up in the area and agriculture was heavily mechanized. For the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Bitola was the southernmost and largest city in the national territory and therefore of strategic importance.

When the Albanian uprising broke out in North and Northwest Macedonia in 2001 , Bitola was drawn into the turmoil of the conflict. On April 28 of the year the rebels committed the KLA , the massacre Vejce (in Šar Planina -Gebirge northwest of Tetovo ), with eight  Macedonian soldiers fell into an ambush and were then brutally murdered. Four of the soldiers were from Bitola and, after they were buried in the city on May 1, 2001, ethnic Macedonians stormed Albanian shops in Bitola and set them on fire. Two mosques were also damaged. On June 5th and 6th there were again serious riots against Albanians in the city. As a result, almost all Albanian residents left Bitola, who returned after the end of the pogrom.

One person was killed and several injured in devastating forest fires in July 2007. Some houses in the Bair district were destroyed by the flames. The fire raged for several days and was intensified again and again by exploding bombs from the First World War.

Culture

Calovski pharmacy, glass pane
View of an advertising poster for the Manaki Brothers Film Festival 2003 in the promenade

Bitola is also an important commercial and industrial center as well as an important educational location in North Macedonia. During the Ottoman era, the place (Turkish Manastır ) was an important trading city and an Islamic center.

In memory of the Manaki brothers from Bitola, who were among the film pioneers in the Balkans before the First World War , there is an annual international film festival, the Manaki Brothers Film Festival .

Ilindenski Denovi ("Ilinden Days") has been a festival for folk dances and songs that has been held since 1971. This festival takes place every year from July 29th to the national holiday on August 2nd ( Ilinden ). Folklore groups from all over North Macedonia perform, but also groups from other countries (Japan, Germany, Bulgaria, Serbia, Turkey and others) present their national cultures.

Attractions

The city center is characterized by historical buildings from the Ottoman era. In addition to the many mosques , Bitola has a number of Orthodox churches and the Catholic co- cathedral of the Sacred Heart . The covered market ( Besistan ), the Isak Mosque , the White Mosque , the Jeni Mosque and the Jahdar Kadi Mosque have been preserved from the Ottoman era . These structures were built in the 16th century. The Jahdar Kadi Mosque was built by Sinan , the most famous Ottoman architect of the era.

Northwest view of the clock tower (2006)

The city's landmark is the clock tower .

The Sirok Sokak or Korzo is the central shopping street (promenade) of Bitola. It is lined with the oldest buildings in the city.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the “Congress of Manastir”, the Macedonian government decided in 2008 to put the “Museum of the Albanian Alphabet” into operation where 100 years earlier Albanian intellectuals had spoken out in favor of the exclusive use of Latin letters to take. Since then there have been some activities, especially on November 22nd, in which many Albanians from the surrounding countries take part.

The city museum houses a variety of historical artifacts from the region, such as the Bitola inscription .

economy

Bitola is the most important location for the North Macedonian energy industry. 80% of the electricity required in North Macedonia is produced in the REK Bitola coal-fired power station . The largest dam in North Macedonia, Streževo , is located northwest of the city and supplies Bitola and the surrounding area with drinking water. Numerous textile companies and the largest producer of dairy products in North Macedonia, Industriska Mlekara Bitola IMB , are based in the city. Bitolska Pivara is one of the oldest breweries in the country.

A regional trade fair for handicrafts, agriculture and tourism takes place every year. In addition to companies from the city and neighboring communities, companies from the neighboring regions in Greece and Albania will also present themselves there . The Bitola region has been known for Greek investments since the 1990s .

A new industrial zone is emerging to the south, on the M5 near the village of Žabeni . It is only 5 km from the border with Greece and will cover an area of ​​85 hectares. The planning for the infrastructure of the industrial zone is currently in progress.

traffic

Bitola has a train station on the Veles – Kremenica railway line . Trains of the North Macedonian Railway to Skopje run from here several times a day . The connection to the Greek Florina was discontinued in 1991 in freight traffic afterwards. The line was renovated between 2015 and 2019, but traffic has not yet resumed after that.

The bus company Transkop is based in Bitola . It maintains both inner-city lines and connections to Skopje, Ohrid and Strumica . There are international connections to Belgrade , some German cities and Vienna .

media

TERA, Orbis and Medi are broadcasters based in Bitola. A regional weekly newspaper is published, Bitolski Vesnik. There are also some local radio stations. The best known are Radio Bitola and Radio Bombarder.

Town twinning

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

sons and daughters of the town

literature

  • Folklorot i etnologijata na Bitola i Bitolsko. (German "Folklore and Ethnology of the Bitola Area") Materijali od Naucnijot Sobir odrzan vo Bitola 30, 31 May 1980 godina, ed. by Michailo Apostolski on behalf of Makedonska Akademija na Naukite i Umetnostite, Drustvo za Nauka i Umetnost. Bitola 1981.
  • Gligor Todorovski (ed.): Srpskata reokupacija na Bitola i Bitolsko . (German "The Serbian reconquest of Bitola and the surrounding area") I na delovi od Prilepsko, Resensko i Ohridsko. (1916-1917). Skopje 1995.

Web links

Commons : Bitola  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Northern Macedonia: Structure (Statistical regions and municipalities) - Statistics, graphics and map. Retrieved April 15, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Information based on the 2002 census in Macedonia
  3. ^ Lexicon of the Middle Ages , Volume V, Artemis Verlag, Munich, 1991, ISBN 3-7608-8905-0 , Sp. 1558
  4. ↑ Acta Sancti Demetrii (in Гръцки извори за българската история )
  5. ^ Raymond Detrez: Historical dictionary of Bulgaria , Scarecrow Pr., 1997, ISBN 0-8108-3177-5 , p. 267
  6. ↑ Zlatarski believed they should have settled west of the Struma River around 687 .
  7. ↑ Miranda Vickers: Shqiptarët - Një histori modern . Bota Shqiptare, 2008, ISBN 978-99956-11-68-2 , Vazhdimi i shpërbërjes së Perandorisë Osmane, p. 47 (English: The Albanians - A Modern History . Translated by Xhevdet Shehu).
  8. ↑ Thede Kahl, Izer Maksuti, Albert Ramaj: The Albanians in the Republic of Macedonia . Facts, analyzes, opinions on interethnic coexistence. In: Viennese Eastern European Studies . tape 23 . Lit Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-7000-0584-9 , ISSN  0946-7246 , Mother Teresa of Calcutta is Gonxhe Bojaxhiu from Skopje, p. 46 .
  9. ↑ The Albanians in the Republic of Macedonia . Social conditions and religious structures of the Muslim society of the Albanians in Macedonia, p. 208 .
  10. ↑ The Albanians in the Republic of Macedonia . Chronology of the history of Macedonia, p. 257-258 .
  11. ^ Johnathan Steele: Right off the map: Macedonia's intellectual elite proposes a land and population swap with the Albanians . In: The Guardian , June 11, 2001, p. 18.
  12. ↑ Investment Bitola (English and Macedonian)
  13. ↑ Industrial Zone Žabeni ( Memento of the original from January 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.pelagonijabiznis.mk
  14. ^ Tobias Heinze: Course book of the Macedonian Railway. Timetable year 2019. In: ec-tobias.de , accessed on May 27, 2020.
  15. ^ Bac: The railways in the Republic of North Macedonia . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International 5/2020, pp. 244–248 (245).