Back To The Balkans: Greece and Macedonia March 2007 ![]()
|
< Begin Trip > |
|||||||
Ohrid is a beautiful city on the shores of Lake Ohrid, which Macedonia shares with Albania. |
|
Macedonian archaeologists suggest that the town has been inhabited since at least the 4th century B.C. It became part of the Macedonian Kingdom of Phillip of Macedon and later Alexander the Great. Then it was part of the Roman Empire and after the Byzantine Empire. |
|
The Bulgarians conquered the town in the 9th Century and that’s when Lychnidos began to be called Ohrid. It even became the capital of the Bulgarian Empire from 990 to 1018, as well as the seat of the Bulgarian Orthodox Patriarchate. The Patriarchate was moved to Constantinople and Ohrid became an archbishopric. By the 16th Century it was one of the most important archbishoprics, subordinating orthodox Sophia, Venice, Dalmatia and Sicily. |
|
|
The city also came under the rule of the Serbian Empire and the Normans. |
The 13th Century church of Sveti Kliment of the Holy Mother of God Perivleptos is one of the best preserved medieval churches in Ohrid. When St. Sophia was turned into mosque, St. Kliment's Church became the cathedral of the Archbishopric of Ohrid. |
|
One of the oldest libraries in the Balkans used to be in the church. Its name comes from St. Kliment of Ohrid, a saint whose remains were transferred there from the church of St.Panteleimon. |
|
< Begin Trip > |
|||||||