The Slepche Monastery, dedicated to St Jovan (St John the Baptist), is located about 3 kilometers west of the village Slepche (Slepce) near Demir Hisar. We visited the monastery after visiting the village Smilevo, which is 30 minutes driving away.
The monastery has well kept grounds, they even use a robotic lawnmower, which seemed a bit out of place in such an old monastery!
The monastery was established in the 14th century, but the current church is from 1862. Allegedly the original wood-carved doors of the church are on display in the Art Gallery in Skopje. There was a fire in 1972 that damaged to the current royal doors.
Some restoration activities were ongoing in the old lodging houses and bell tower in 2024.
The monastery has some of the best toilet facilities in the country, no kidding.
There should be an older church from 1867 built on the foundations of an older church that belongs to the Monastery, dedicated to St John the Divine, and called St Nikolas by the people. We missed this church during our visit, it likely is the small single-nave church located in the village Slepche itself, see here for its location.
The monastery sells a wide variety of religious items and books, as well as home-cooked traditional food. We got a jar with cooked pork-meat, which was very delicious. Location: N41° 13′ 33.4″ E21° 09′ 06.1″.
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