Resen

The road from Ohrid to Bitola passes through Resen. Although we had driven this road several times, we never stopped to explore Resen. This time Resen was our destination for some hours of sightseeing. Resen is famous for its apples but we didn’t have any. Another way to get to Resen is with a hike to Resen from Ohrid through Galicica National Park, which I did in the reverse direction Resen-Ohrid.

This interesting building called “Saraj” was built from 1905-1922 by the Ottoman “Bey” Ahmed Niyazi Bey. The story goes that he received a postcard from Versailles (France) and wanted to have a house similar to the palace on the postcard. The Bey died in 1912 so he did not see the building when it was finished. Address: 29th Noemvri, N41.08869 E21.01614

Saraj houses a branch of the Museum of Macedonia in Skopje. Most items are just standing in the corridors of the first floor of the building.

In the hallway there are two old wooden boats made from a tree. Several
findings from the now uninhabited island Golem Grad in Lake Prespa are on display, such as a partially rescued mosaic from the basilica on Golem Grad. Entrance to the museum was free.

A very nice surprise in the Saraj building was the permanent exposition of the painter Keraca (Keratza) Visulceva (1911-2004). Keratza Visulceva was a Bulgarian painter from Macedonian decent. During the Balkan wars her family moved to Bulgaria and she graduated at the Sofia Fine Arts Academy.

The story goes that Keratza drove past Saraj and liked it so much that she donated her paintings to be on display here. Entrance to the exposition was free.

Every year in August artists from all over the world attend the Ceramic Colony in Resen. The colony was founded in 1973. The ceramic pieces that are created by the artists are on display in Saraj. Entrance to the exposition was 50 denars, less than an euro. It only became clear that we had to pay entrance fee after we were asked to come in and already had visited the exposition. You can buy a small ceramic souvenir as well if you want.

The Church of St George is likely from 1834. Address: Kuzman Josifovski, N41.08977 E21.00887

On one of the walls of St George there is a inscription in the wall with 7 people with black faces, and a language that is not modern Macedonian.

The Church of St Cyril and Methodi was closed when we wanted to visit it.
Address: Boris Kidrik, N41.09137 E21.00967

A sign on the wall of the Haci Ramadan Mosque suggests it was built in 1592. Address: Tashe Miloshevski, N41.09022 E21.01143

The Women’s Monastery of St Bogorodica (Holy Mother of God) is a few kilometers from Resen, near the village Jankovec. According to the Bradt Guide Macedonia there is a group of nuns that does fresco painting and other crafts in the monastery. However, these fresco-painting nuns left the monastery already around 2003, so we were told in 2012 by the only nun who remained in the monastery. Her name is Paraskeva and she speaks excellent English. Our visit was a real pleasure as we were invited for coffee and a very tasty home-made cake. There are two churches on the monastery grounds: The newer church in the picture above is dedicated to St. Ignatius of Antioch and was not completely finished at the time of our visit.

The old Church of Dormition of the Theotokos, which is the main monastery church was consecrated in the 18th century. In the garden of the monastery there were also several animals including a very cute young kitten who was trying to steal our attention whenever it could! It is not possible to overnight in this monastery. Directions: 41.110579 E21.002077