Ohrid - the city and the lake

Ohrid, immortal Ohrid – a kingdom of light and water, a repository of ancient ruins from Macedonia’s earlier kingdoms – is the sublime lakeside town that for many represents the culmination of the Macedonian experience.

Ohrid’s major attractions are all located within a remarkably concentrated and eminently walkable area, among and above the narrow streets of the Old Town, itself lined with restaurants and cafes perfectly suited for relaxing on cool summer evenings. Ohrid’s many café bars and nightclubs also make for vibrant nightlife.

As for the lake itself, it is so large and so deep that one might mistake it for a small sea. The full range of water sports, fishing and boating is available, and numerous churches alongside Ohrid’s lake shores make for fascinating side trips.

The wooded ridge above the lake’s eastern shore is largely taken up by Galicica National Park, a pristine wilderness area ideally suited for nature enthusiasts.

The uniqueness of Ohrid’s lake and historical architecture have been attested by UNESCO, which honored the town with an official designation as one of the few places on the cultural institution’s “World Inheritance” list.

Ohrid- History and Museums

Archaeological finds indicate that Ohrid is one of the oldest human settlements in all of Europe. The lake itself is over three million years old. Ohrid town is first mentioned in Greek documents from 353 B.C.E., when it was known as Lychnidos - or, “the city of light.” Only much later, in 879 C.E., was it renamed Ohrid. The name probably derives from the Macedonian phrase “Vo Hrid” – meaning roughly, “the town on the hill.”

Apart from its ancient theater (which is still in use today), the ancient Lychnidos boasted a classical agora, gymnasium, civil basilicas and temples to the gods of Greek Antiquity. Under Roman rule it developed more of the typical Roman architectural traits, and became an important transit point on the Via Egnatia trade route that bisected the Balkans.

The town as we know it today was built mostly between the 7th and 19th centuries. During the Byzantine period, Ohrid became a significant cultural and economic center, serving as an episcopal center of the Orthodox Church and as the site of the first Slavic university run by St. Clement and St. Naum at the end of the 9th century. At the beginning of the 11th century, Ohrid briefly became the capital of Macedonia’s greatest medieval ruler, Samuel, whose fortress still presides over the city today.

During Ottoman times, Ohrid remained the seat of the autocephalous Ohrid archiepiscopacy (until 1726). During its Byzantine apogee, the town was renowned for its 365 churches and monasteries. These, and a large number of sacral edifices, have been preserved and make up a large part of Ohrid’s rich medieval past.

Today, one of the city’s museums has a collection of more than 800 Byzantine and post-Byzantine icons, most of which were painted between the 11th and 14th centuries. Art historians count this collection as being one of the most important in the world, along with those of the Tretiakov Gallery in Moscow and Mt. Athos in Greece.

Plaosnik - Ohrid

Located in Ohrid’s old town, Plaosnik is an utterly unique phenomenon: it was recently reconstructed, with loving attention to detail, precisely in the style of a Byzantine church, right down to the red bricks and mortar.



An early Christian sacral building dating from the 5th century was discovered here, built over the remains of an older antique building whose cistern was found in the atrium of the newly built temple.



Today, Plaosnik is one of the most exhilarating Byzantine-style churches in Macedonia. Its floor is covered with mosaics of twenty wave-shaped tassel interspersed with the figures of flowers, birds and animals. The very fact of its reconstruction is evidence of the strong affection Macedonians still feel for their Byzantine heritage.

St Naum- Ohrid]

The monastery of St Naum, set amidst lush verdure where the River Crn Drim tumbles into the lake, is a refuge of tranquility at the very corner of the Macedonian Republic. Situated 29 km (18 m) from the town of Ohrid, and only 1 kilometer (0.6 m) from the Albanian border, the monastery brings the Macedonian experience to a dramatic culmination.


As with most Byzantine churches, St. Naum was chosen primarily for its location – on a high, rocky outcropping over the lake, above deep forests and the life-giving springs of the Crn Drim. The monastic complex and church of St. Naum were built originally at the turn of the tenth century by the monk of the same name; Macedonians believe you can hear the saint’s heartbeat by pressing an ear to his stone coffin inside the church.

The monastery has been renewed and enlarged several times over the centuries. While most of its iconostases and frescoes date from the 16th and 17th centuries, earlier etchings in the Byzantine Greek vernacular also remain. But numerous orthographical mistakes indicate that they were written by Slavic-speaking local monks. Other inscriptions in the church make up some of the oldest epigraphic evidence of Slavic literacy.

The icons of St. Naum are among the best achievements of religious painting in the Balkans. They date from the first half of the 18th century. The wood-carved iconostasis itself was made in 1711 by an unknown artisan.

A final unusual element of St. Naum is located not on the inside of the church but on the outside: the preponderance of multi-colored peacocks strutting around and luxuriating in the grass.

St John Caneo - Ohrid Just above a small fishing settlement, on a cliff rising up from Ohrid Lake, stands one of the most magnificent churches in all of Macedonia. Built in the honor of St. John the Theologian, St. Kaneo with its sublime atmosphere and views of the placid lake below remains an inspiring place for spiritual contemplation. The church, which was consecrated at the end of the 13th century, was built on a rectangular stone base. Its exterior is decorated with ceramic decorative sculptures and stone carvings. Though the fresco painters are unknown, the fragments that have been preserved are of exceptional quality; The Communion of the Apostles and the portraits of St. Clement, St. Erasmus and Constantine Kavasilas especially stand out. An extraordinarily unique construction, built as it is from a combination of Byzantine and Armenian architectural styles, St. Kaneo is indeed one of the most beautiful churches in Macedonia and in the whole Balkan region.

Lake Ohrid Lake Ohrid is the largest and most beautiful of Macedonia’s three tectonic lakes. Its astonishingly clean, clear waters together with the serene stillness of its mountain setting have captivated visitors since prehistoric times. The lake is enormous, at some 30 kilometers (18 miles) long and up to 288 meters (945 feet) deep. While the lake is fed by water from three rivers, most of Ohrid’s water comes from another lake- Prespa, on the other side of the Galicica Mountain. Being at a higher elevation, Prespa spills its water down to Ohrid through mountain springs, the most important being Ostrovo near the monastery of St Naum, and Biljana near Ohrid town. With its unique flora and fauna characteristic of the tertiary period (2-4 million years ago), Ohrid is one of Europe’s great biological reserves. Most of the lake’s plant and animal species are endemic and unique to Ohrid. The most famous among these are two types of Ohrid Trout (letnica and belvica, in Macedonian). Other unique Ohrid creatures include two types of eel as well as the bleak, whose scales are used for making the well-known Ohrid pearl. This treasured jewel is produced according to a secret method passed down from generation to generation. Sport fishing attracts many passionate fishermen from Macedonia, Europe and the world. In 1980 Lake Ohrid was proclaimed a place of world cultural and natural inheritance by UNESCO.