Monastery · founded 905
The monastery founded by St. Naum in 905 above the springs at the south end of the lake, about 29 km from Ohrid, where he is buried.
These are the stories you can open in the 3D view, each at its own numbered point on the model.
Naum, a disciple of Cyril and Methodius and a companion of Clement of Ohrid, founded a monastery of the Holy Archangels here in 905, at the southern end of the lake, about 29 kilometres from Ohrid. He was buried in it in 910 and was later venerated as a saint, and the monastery took his name. Boats from Ohrid land at the pier below the rock.
Naum's first church is said to have looked almost exactly like Clement's church of St. Panteleimon in Ohrid. It was destroyed some time between the 10th and the 13th century. The church you see was raised on its foundations, by most accounts around the 16th century. A fresco fragment found under the floor names the painter Trpo, son of the painter Konstantin of Korçë, and dates from after 1400.
The church was rebuilt in two stages. First came the naos and the narthex; then each was given a dome. Inside, the naos is a cross set in a square, its dome resting on four columns. From outside the two drums differ: the western one, over the narthex, is wider and lower; the eastern one, over the naos, is taller and slimmer. Both have arched niches framed in brick and red tile caps.
Naum's tomb lies in its own chapel on the south side of the church, under a wide, low dome. His feast was first kept on the day of his death, 23 December by the old calendar. In 1720 the archbishop's council in Ohrid moved the celebration to 20 June, today 3 July, because of the winter weather and so that it would not fall at Christmas.
From this terrace the lake runs north towards Ohrid, thirty kilometres away. A legend says that Naum and Clement agreed to begin their two monasteries, at opposite ends of the lake, at the same moment. The signal was to be a little bell on a rope stretched across the water. But gulls settled on the rope, the bell rang early, and Clement began first. It is a legend, not history.
Below the monastery, clear water rises from springs and flows into the lake. Much of it comes underground through the karst of Galičica from Lake Prespa, which lies higher up on the other side of the mountain. Boatmen row visitors through the springs, among reeds and willows. Locally they are called the springs of the Drim; a legend says that by Naum's word their water crosses the lake without mixing.
The courtyard is closed on three sides by the monastery's residences and open to the lake on the fourth; part of them is now a hotel. Peacocks walk the paving. Until 1941, it is said, the monastery baked two ovens of bread every day, and a man at the gate gave a loaf to everyone who passed. A loaf stamped with the monastery's sign is said to have protected travellers on the road.
From the 16th century a Greek school worked in the monastery, which had close ties with the printing house of Moscopole, a once prosperous town now in Albania. The border is close: the crossing lies about a kilometre south of the monastery. From 1912 to 1925 this corner belonged to Albania; in June 1925 it was given to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia after negotiations between the two states.
Typical prices are our estimates for orientation, not menu prices. Check opening hours on the spot.
Walk around the model, switch between day and night, and hear each story read aloud in English, Macedonian or Turkish.
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