Krushevo
First thing in the morning we took a bus to Krushevo.
Krushevo is a village of about 5 or 6 thousand people on the slopes of one of the mountains that surround Prilep.
Apparently it's the highest village in the Balkans. Apart from that it's famous for having been an independent state for ten days in 1903, before the Turks came in and suppressed the independance movement. In a way it was the start of the modern Macedonian state.
Apart from the beauy of the alpine landscape Krushevo has five museums including a rather impressive and unusual memorial to the Krushevo Manifesto in the shape of a mace.
Inside the memorial. All very minimalistic with special symbolism that probably needs to be pointed out by a local. Well it was but I didn't really understand it properly. It's unusual enough and plain enough that it's quite impressive.
Our friendly caretaker sliding closed the door to the museum.
Our local Esperantist from Prilep got the caretaker to open up the museum with the strange shape for us after which we went on a long treck with some local historian to the other museums.
Even Krushevo with it's 5 or 6000 people has a vibrant cafe culture to rival that of Hobart.
The only church that wasn't destroyed by the Turks - they thought it was a Vlach (Romanian) church and didn't want to have to fight them too.
It's fortunate that the Turks left it alone as it would have burnt pretty well considering the whole interior is carved wood. Apparently one of the largest such carved alters in existence.
Traditonal photo of Esperanto excursion. Note the Esperanto pennant in front. Also note the huge key I'm holding. The caretaker even has a special handbag that he carries it home in. He says it would otherwise make a mess of his pocket.
Krushevo is a village of about 5 or 6 thousand people on the slopes of one of the mountains that surround Prilep.
Apparently it's the highest village in the Balkans. Apart from that it's famous for having been an independent state for ten days in 1903, before the Turks came in and suppressed the independance movement. In a way it was the start of the modern Macedonian state.
Apart from the beauy of the alpine landscape Krushevo has five museums including a rather impressive and unusual memorial to the Krushevo Manifesto in the shape of a mace.
Inside the memorial. All very minimalistic with special symbolism that probably needs to be pointed out by a local. Well it was but I didn't really understand it properly. It's unusual enough and plain enough that it's quite impressive.
Our friendly caretaker sliding closed the door to the museum.
Our local Esperantist from Prilep got the caretaker to open up the museum with the strange shape for us after which we went on a long treck with some local historian to the other museums.
Even Krushevo with it's 5 or 6000 people has a vibrant cafe culture to rival that of Hobart.
The only church that wasn't destroyed by the Turks - they thought it was a Vlach (Romanian) church and didn't want to have to fight them too.
It's fortunate that the Turks left it alone as it would have burnt pretty well considering the whole interior is carved wood. Apparently one of the largest such carved alters in existence.
Traditonal photo of Esperanto excursion. Note the Esperanto pennant in front. Also note the huge key I'm holding. The caretaker even has a special handbag that he carries it home in. He says it would otherwise make a mess of his pocket.
posted by Budz at 6:06 AM
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