Sveti Jovan Bigorski Monastery
The Sveti Jovan Bigorski Monastery ( Macedonian Манастир Свети Јован Бигорски ) is an Orthodox monastery founded in 1020 in the west of the Republic of North Macedonia .
Its good structural condition as well as a large six-row and wood-framed iconostasis and a three-row gallery of Orthodox saints and biblical motifs on the outer wall of the monastery church make it one of the most important cultural sights in the country. The name of the monastery is derived from John the Baptist to whom the monastery is dedicated. The epithet Bigorski is derived from the tuff rock (Macedonian: bigor ), which was used as a building material.
location
The monastery is located on a steep mountain slope in a valley formed by the Radika River in the Mavrovo National Park about 25 kilometers northeast of the town of Debar .
history
The monastery was built in 1020 by monk Jovan von Debar, who at that time belonged to the Archdiocese of Ohrid of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church . When the region was conquered by the Ottoman Empire , the monastery was largely destroyed in the 16th century, only a small church survived the destruction. In 1743 the reconstruction of the monastery began. The iconostasis was created by local artists ( Debar School ) in the years 1829 to 1835. In 1897 the monastery again belonged to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.
According to the political developments at the beginning of the 20th century, the monastery came to the Serbian Orthodox Church , before it passed to the Macedonian Orthodox Church with the independence of Macedonia . The present fraternity consists of four monks and three novices . For guests who want to integrate into the monastery life, there is a guest house built at the end of the 20th century.
Web links
- Presentation of the monastery on www.gostivar.com (English)
- Article about the monastery on the homepage of the weekly magazine Makedonsko sonce (Macedonian) [Note: Link broken]
Coordinates: 41 ° 37 ′ 15 ″ N , 20 ° 36 ′ 34 ″ E