Inside Sv Jovan Bigorski (St John The Baptist) Monastery
The Republic of Macedonia is located in the central Balkan region, with a population of just above 2 million. It is one of the successor states of former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991. As a result of an ongoing dispute with Greece over use of the name Macedonia, it was admitted under the provisional description of "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" abbreviated as FYROM. The largest ethnic group in the country are the Macedonians who are mostly Eastern Orthodox and make up 65% of the population, the second being the Muslim Albanians who represent about a third of the inhabitants. Tourism plays an important role in the economy of Macedonia with 700,000 visitors a year. The country has a variety of natural and cultural attractions, which make it an attractive destination. It has a rich cultural heritage in art, architecture, poetry and music as well as a variety of protected religious Christian and Muslim sites. The Monastery of Saint Jovan Bigorski, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, is a Macedonian Orthodox monastery located in the western part of the country. One of the most valuable treasures of the monastery is the iconostasis , which is considered as the most beautiful and most valuable wood-carved iconostasis. Most of the old monastery complex was burnt down in 2009, and reconstruction begun in May 2010 with the aim to make it as authentic as possible.
Size: 7119px × 4751px
Location: Debar, Macedonia (FYROM)
Photo credit: © François-Olivier Dommergues / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: balkans, bigorski, christian, europe”, fyrom, jovan, macedonia, monastery, orthodox, sv, yugoslavia, “eastern
