The Museum of Macedonia is located in the center of the old part of the city of Skopje. A tour in museum features a rich exhibition from excavations around Macedonia, and comprises departments of archaeology, history and ethnology with own exhibitions.

A tour to the museum in Skopje:

Macedonian Museum of Natural History

Museum of Contemporary Art

Museum of Macedonia (archaeological, ethnological and history exhibitions)

Museum of the city of Skopje

SKOPJE SURROUNDINGS TOUR – This full day tour with a breaks includes a round trip around Skopje with the visits of the cultural and historical monuments from Byzantine period: Monastery of St.Andrea (14th c.), Monastery of St.Pantelejmon (12th c.) master-pieces of the Byzantine art, Monastery and the Church of St.Dimitrija, built by King Marko (14th c.) and Monastery of St.Nikita (14th c.). In the tour could be included the Ancient Roman City of Scupi and the Ancient Aqueduct.

Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire. Republic of Macedonia as a part of this empire during the centuries has a lot of heritage, mostly in a shape of churches and monasteries. These churches are among the most valuable monuments of the middle age architecture around Skopje, the capital of Macedonia.

SKOPJE SIGHTSEENG TOUR is a half-day city tour consists of two parts, walking trough the old part of Skopje and driving around with bus. First part includes landmarks of the city: Stone Bridge and Skopje’s Old Town (including Fortress Kale, Mustfa Pasha mosque, St. Savior church, Bezisten, Chifte Hamam/Public bath, Kapan An/Inn and Daut Pasha Hamam/Public bath ). The tour continuous with panoramic sightseeing of the city and finishes with visit of the Monastery of St.Pantelejmon, erected in 1164 on the slopes of Mount Vodno.



I am guiding a sightseeing tour around Skopje
On the slopes of nearby Mt. Vodno stands the famous church of St. Pantelejmon from 1164, decorated with frescoes of exceptional artistic value. The Lamentation of Christ, also known as Pieta, is the earliest representation of St. Mary with human features. The sorrow she feels for losing her son was for the first time represented on this fresco, thus heralding the Renaissance.

The classical city tour includes a walk through the landmarks of the old part of Skopje, starting with the City Museum, or the old Railway station finished in 1940/41 and at that time the most beautiful railway station on the Balkans which connected Skopje with Thessaloníki. The tour continue with the Memorial house of Mother Theresa, who was born in Skopje in 1910 and it proceeds with a visit of the Skopje’s Old Town through the symbol of the city – famous Stone Bridge over the Vardar river. The second part of the tour includes the cultural-historical monument in the old part of the city such as: Bezisten, Chifte Hamam (Public bath, 15c.), Kapan An (or ancient Inn, 15c.) and Daut Pasha Hamam (Public bath, 15c.). Chifte Hamam and Daut Pasha Hamam today are the part of the Macedonian National gallery.

The tour proceeds with Mustafa Pasha mosque (1495) and the church of St. Spas (Holly Saviour, 19c. with the extraordinary iconostas) which are on the border between the upper (acropolis) and down ancient part of the city, and finishes with the multilayer open public archaeological site of Fortress Kale placed on a hill, which gives a view to the old and the new part of Skopje.

Walking tour to the city of UNESCO thorough the old part of the city includes: church St Virgin Mary Perivleptos (1295) known by the frescoes with Renaissance motives (including the Icon gallery), antique theater (3rd B.C.), the complexs od Plaoshnik (archaeological site and the church of St. Clement with his grave), church St. John Caneo (14th c.) and cathedral church of St. Sophia (11th c.), landmark of the city. The tour can be extended with lunch, visiting the national workshop for handmade paper and shopping the jewelry made by famous Ohrid’s pearl.


Ohrid traditional architecture – Museum of the city of Ohrid (on the photography)

Also there is an opportunity for half-day and full day tours in Ohrid, which consists of two parts: walking tour and than visiting the monastery of St Naum. On our way back to Ohrid there is opportunity for visiting the Museum on water (reconstruction of Eneolithic pile-dwelling settlement).

- in Skopje: Mustafa Pasha mosque, Sultan Murat mosque, Yahya Pasha mosque, Ghazi Ishak Bey mosque, Ishak Bey (Aladza) mosque, Old Part of the city so called Old Bazaar includes: Daut Pasha Hamam, Chifte Hamam, Kurshumli An, Kapan An, Suli An, Bezisten …

- in Tetovo: The Colored or Painted Mosque (Aladzha) Mosque, Arabati Baba Tekke, Ottoman old Hamam … more

- in Bitola: Old Bazaaar with picturesque buildings including Bezisten and Hajji Bey Mosque, Isak Beg Mosque, Yeni Mosque, Gazi Haydar Kadi Mosque, Yeni Bath, The Clock Tower …

- in Ohrid: Ali Pasha Mosque, The tomb of Sinan Jusuf Chelebi, “Haji Turgut” Mosque …

As a professional archaeologist I visited a lot of archaeological sites within Republic of Macedonia, and also I was/am a part of the some excavation teams. Macedonia has more than 5000 archeological sites from all period, from prehistory up until the Ottoman period. The remains of ancient cities such as: Stobi, Heraclea, Skupi, Bargala, Morodvis, Kokino, Lychnidos ... are very good preservd, reconstructed and open for a public and tourists.

The Tikves region in Macedonia, is recognized by the quality of the wines within the mediterranean climate. You can taste the famous Macedonian wines and visit some of the historic wineries. In the tour is also included the archaeological site of Stobi located near Gradsko, the biggest archaeological site in Macedonia from Roman and Early Christian period (VII BC- VI AD), as well as the Museum of wine in Negotino and Gallery of wine within the Monastery of St. George in the vicinity of this city.

What is cultural heritage about? Does people from some country can recognize in the present, what kind of category will be included on the heritage list in the future? What are the character and the impact of this heritage projects for the new generations? These are some of the questions I am facing of as an archaeologist and as a professional tourist guide every day. And actually, how it looks like for I day, if you imagine that you are a tourist in your own city, and you hiring a guide to tell you the story.

In his latest project entitled “City Tour 2000-2010“, the artist Zoran Poposki hired me, because I work both, with cultural heritage and with tourism. This time I gave him a tour of the cultural landmarks created during the last decade in Skopje, the city we have lived in since our birth.

In the description of the project, he will write: ”The tour of the new icons of the urban cultural landscape is set out against a background of massive economic and social transformation of public space in this post-socialist city, resulting in an increased need for interpretation of this new topography of meaning”.

Photo documentation of the tour can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/20792326@N08/sets/72157624565029308/

Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire. Republic of Macedonia as a part of this empire during the centuries has a lot of heritage, mostly in a shape of churches and monasteries. These churches are among the most valuable monuments of the middle age architecture around Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, Ohrid, the city of UNESCO, as also as in the other parts of Macedonia.