On to Skopje and a Taste of Macedonia's History

My favorite piece from the Archeological Museum of Macedonia, a tiny, bronze Paeonian dancer

We were up relatively early for our drive from Ohrid to Skopje, the capital where we would spend our last three evenings in North Macedonia. We had two stops planned along the way, and hoped to get into town in time to visit one museum. The next day would be Easter, and all of them (and many other sights) would be closed. And the following day, our last, was a Monday. Most museums in North Macedonia are also closed on Mondays.

The not-so-Submerged Church of St. Nicholas in Mavrovo National Park

Our first stop would be Mavrovo National Park. We didn’t have time for hiking there, but wanted to visit St.Nikolas Church, often known as the “Submerged Church.” When the dam that created Mavrovo Lake was built, the church was partially flooded and a new one built on high ground above the lake. The pictures I’d seen of the old church in the water looked pretty cool, and it was only about 15-20 minutes off the highway. So, we decided to include it on our itinerary for the day. The night before, I read more about It and noticed comments saying that the church was partially under water only during times of high water.

Sitting underwater hasn’t done wonders for the church’s structural integrity!

Wouldn’t you know it? Spring is apparently not a time of high water in Mavrovo, despite the snow melt from the mountains and spring rains. The church sitting was high and dry about 30-40 yards away from the lakeshore. That allowed us to enter and walk around, noting the water damage and the columns that were collapsing or leaning against walls. It was still a scenic sight on the lake shore in the deep valley, but not what we’d come to see! We spent only a short time, then headed back out on the road.

Some of colorful interior paintings in the Tetovo mosque

The next stop was the town of Tetovo and its Painted (or Colorful) Mosque. This small mosque was originally built in 1438 A.D., its construction financed by two sisters who are buried in the courtyard. It was rebuilt during the 1800s by Abdurrahman Pasha, who was an aficionado of Western artwork. Some sources say the decoration was influenced by Italian baroque, but it is the paintings on the interior that amaze visitors, today. The entire surface is colored in bright paintings, depicting towns, floral designs, Quranic quotes, vases, and wreaths. One aspect of Islamic art is typically it is focused on abstract or geometric designs — not necessarily realistic depictions of animals, people, or buildings. This mosque definitely breaks that mold, including scenes of Mecca and the tomb of the prophet Mohammed.

Closeup of one of the paintings on the mosque’s interior walls

The exterior is also brightly colored with rectangular panels in various shades or orange, yellow, green, and blue. They are depicted with more traditional geometric designs, but give an almost tiled look to the outer walls. Their alternating, pastel colors give the mosque a very Mediterranean feel. There is no dome, as the mosque was originally built before the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, and the Turkish adoption of the domed mosque as its standard architecture. It was definitely an interesting stop, though — not somewhere you would linger for hours, but well worth a short diversion.

The almost equally colorful exterior of the Painted Mosque

We arrived in Skopje in mid-afternoon and checked into our hotel. It was excellently located just a short walk away from the main square. It was very modern and comfortable. We unpacked and quickly set out for our afternoon goal: the Archeological Museum of Macedonia. We’d read through the descriptions of the various museums on our list and picked it out as our number one (if we could visit only one, which we were pretty sure would be the case). It creatively houses artifacts from the Stone Age all the way up through Ottoman times. Its emphasis definitely seemed to be in the Classical Greek, Macedonian, and Roman times. All of the well-lit exhibits were labeled in both Cyrillic and English, so there was no guesswork at what you are looking at or having to use Google Translate.

The displays in the Archeological Museum are all well lit and labeled in English and Cyrillic

The sheer number of artifacts on the three levels of the museum was astounding. Greek and Roman statues, decorated Greek pottery, bronze and iron weapons, coins, jewelry, and more lined row after row of glass cases. At times, the organization seemed to pop back and forth between various time periods, but the signs did an amazing job of placing the items in historical context and giving visitors an idea of what was going on in Macedonia at that point in history. There was no over-emphasis on Alexander the Great or his father, Philip II. The culture and history of the area was clearly shown as a synthesis and blending of various influences. Probably my favorite piece in the entire museum was a tiny statuette of a dancer created by the Paeonians, one of the early people to settle in the area. The liveliness of the tiny figure jumps right out at the viewer, which is why I chose it to be the lead photo on this blog post.

Gold coins - one of the many hoards in the glass cases…how many citizens had used these for purchases?

Of course, I enjoyed the weaponry — seeing the bronze helmets of the Macedonians and Greeks, iron Roman pila points (the legionary’s heavy throwing spear), and actual Homeric era bronze swords was quite the thrill. The various coin hoards were beautiful, too. It was immersive to look at the weathered faces of various rulers and think of all the citizens that bought goods with these over the centuries. Roman glassware had been polished and cleverly lit in display cases to show off its translucent beauty and color. Seeing the pieces, it is no wonder Roman glass was treasured and traded along the Silk Road for so many years. It was also cool to see the original gold foil masks that we’d been seeing replicas of throughout our travels at various souvenir stands. Many believe they are of various Mycenaean kings from the time of the Trojan Wars. Was I looking at the death mask of Agamemnon? Achilles? Odysseus?

Golden death mask for some ancient Mycenaean king - is this Agamemnon? Achilles? Odysseus?

One very cool thing for a history buff like me was the statue-lined, pedestrian Bridge of Civilizations leading across the Vardar river to the museum. As well as Alexander and Philip, they are of other important figures from Macedonia’s past, including my favorite Byzantine Emperor, Justinian. Also making an appearance in bronze are Tsar Samuel of the Bulgarian Empire, and the famous saints from Ohrid, Methodius, Cyril, Clement, and Naum. After our visit, as light was fading, we took a walk around the massive central square in Skopje. There, even more statues greeted us. The city is sometimes known as the City of Statues. The largest was a multilevel one of Alexander the Great riding his famous horse, Bucephalus. Underneath him, Macedonian pikemen with their long spears and round shields guarded the fountain, which was lit in various colors as night fell.

Roman glassware was a specialty - it was highly prized and traded across the world

Although our first sight of the day had been a bit of a bust, the Archeological Museum was quite the finish to our first day in Skopje. I certainly got my fill of history there, and highly recommend it to any visitor to North Macedonia!

It is mind boggling at how old this anthropomorphic, Stone Age pottery truly is!

For military history buffs like me, actual iron points for Roman pila - the legionary’s heavy throwing spear