Monastery of Saint Naum

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http://www.heygo.com February 27th - Ohrid Springs - The Source Of The Lake & The Monastery of Saint Naum



The Monastery of St. Naum is a magnificently massive complex, located 29 kilometers south of Ohrid, on a plateau close to the Albanian border.

The original monastery was built in 905 by Saint Naum of Ohrid himself. Taken down between the 11th and 13th century, the monastery was then rebuilt in the 16th century.

St. Naum of Ohrid was a medieval scholar and writer, who together with Saint Clement continued the task of spreading Christianity among the Slavic speaking people of the region.

Known as a living saint for the many miracles he performed, St. Naum of Ohrid died in 910, at the old age of 80, and was buried inside the monastery. Myths and legends say that you can bring your ear to the stone coffin and hear his heartbeat even today but our guide today said that it’s the water of Lake Ohrid crushing against the rock formation down below.



Stretching for several kilometers the site nearby is known as the springs. With huge pockets of water, changing color as the vegetation grows. The springs connect the two lakes under the Galicica Mountain.



Before we reached the monastery we passed gift shops and restaurants, with only locals visiting, they too are suffering from the lack of tourists. One restaurant looked beautiful which is entered by a small bridge.



A sculpture of St. Naum made by Boris Dzeparoski in 2005 is on an existing tree close to the entrance of the monastery. It was made with a chainsaw in just 15 hours.



There are around 20 peacocks around the monastery complex, we spotted about 4 but weren’t lucky enough to see the two albino peacocks, which were a present to the monastery from the Zoo in Belgrade.



The views of the lake & mountains from the monastery were quite stunning.

I think there are more tours planned around this beautiful area & the lake, so I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled.

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