10 fun facts about Republic of Macedonia

Day 3,108, 12:37 • Published in North Macedonia North Macedonia • by iMackata

1. According to NASA, Kokino is the fourth oldest astronomic observatory in the world; with the oldest three being Abu Simbel, Egypt; Stonehenge, Great Britain; and Angkor Wat, Cambodia. Kokino is located approximately 30 km from the town of Kumanovo, and about 6 km from the Serbian border.

2. Ohrid Lake is the oldest and one of the deepest lakes in Europe (max depth 288m or 940ft). It is estimated 4 million years old and has 200 endemic species that haven’t been found at any other place in the world. It was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1979.

3. Mother Theresa of Calcutta was born in Skopje, Macedonia. Even though she was born in Skopje, she was Albanian by ethnicity at the time of her birth in 1910. Today, you can see museum house dedicated to her in the center of the capital city of Skopje.

4. Skopje has suffered quite a few devastating earthquakes throughout history, the biggest ones in 518 and in 1963, leveling most of the city. In addition, the Austro-Hungarian General Piccolomini ordered the city burnt down in the 18th Century.

5. The cave Peshna in Makedonski Brod was described by New York Times as looking “exactly like Helm’s Deep from Lord of the Rings”.

6. The Millennium Cross is a 66 metre-high cross situated on the top of the Vodno Mountain in Skopje, and it is the biggest cross in the world. It was constructed to serve as a memorial of 2,000 years of Christianity in Macedonia and the world.

7. In the Ohrid area there are 365 churchs, so you can visit one church per a day. So visit Ohrid !

8. Macedonian opium is the best in the world, with 14 morphine units, compared to second China(8 ), third India (7) and forth Turkey (6).

9. On one day every July, locals and tourists alike are invited to attend the traditional Macedonian wedding celebrations at Galicnik, a legendary old village in the western mountains near Mavrovo. The three-day feast, which includes much song, dancing, eating and drinking, uses traditional customs, costumes, rituals and dances that have been passed down over the centuries. The Galicnik Wedding is an incomparable event that every visitor to Macedonia must experience at least once.

10. Macedonia is famous for its 10 million years old ‘Stone Town’ – Kuklica, in the Kratovo region. The town has 120 stone figures, reaching heights of 10 metres.