Ohrid

Ohrid (Macedonian: Охрид), known in Spanish and other languages also as Ocrida or Ojrida, is a town in western North Macedonia. It sits on the shores of the lake of the same name. At 700 meters above sea level, Lake Ohrid, a part of which belongs to neighboring Albania, is surrounded by mountains. The ancient city occupies the slopes of a mountain that dominates it. Not far away and also on the lake shore, is the small cultural town of Struga.

The city of Ohrid and its surroundings have been declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1979 (for its natural values) and 1980 (for its cultural and historical values), under the name of natural and cultural heritage from the Ohrid region. This has led to the creation of an important tourist industry that has become the main source of income for the city.

Etymology

In ancient times, the city was known under the ancient Greek name Λυχνίς (Lychnis) and Latin Lychnidus, which translates as "city of light&# 34;, from Greek λυχνίς (lychnis, gen. lychnidos), "precious rock that emits light", from λύχνος (lychnos), "lamp, portable light". Around 879, the city ceased to be called Lychnidos and the natives began to call it Ohrid, possibly from the Slavic words vo hrid, meaning "on the hill," as the ancient city of Lychnidos was situated on top of the hill. In Macedonian and other South Slavic languages, the name of the city is Ohrid (Охрид). In Albanian, the city is known as Ohër or Ohri and in Modern Greek as Ochrida (Οχρίδα, Ωχρίδα) and Achrida (Αχρίδα).

History

Old Age

The first inhabitants of the Lake Ohrid region were the Enkelians, an Illyrian tribe, and the Dasaretes, an ancient Greek tribe based further east in the region of Lyncestis. According to recent excavations, it was a city already in the time of King Philip II of Macedonia. Studies concluded that Samuel's Fortress was built on top of an earlier fortification, dated to the IV century BCE. During the Roman conquest, at the end of the III century and beginning of the II a. C., the dasaretas are mentioned, as well as the ancient Greek city of Lychnidos. The existence of the city of Lychnidos is related to the Greek myth of the Phoenician prince Cadmus, who, exiled from Thebes in Boeotia, fled with the Enkelia and founded the city of Lychnidos on the shore of Lake Ohrid. The transparent waters of this lake gave it its name in ancient Greek: Lacus Lychnitis (Greek: Λυχνίτις), also during some periods of the Middle Ages. It was located on the Via Egnatia, which connected the port of Dyrrachion (present-day Durrës) and the Adriatic Sea with Byzantium. Other archaeological excavations demonstrate the early adoption of Christianity in the area. The bishops of Lychnidos participated in multiple ecumenical councils.

Middle Ages

Slavs began arriving in the area during the VI century. In the early VI century, it was settled by a Slavic tribe known as the Berziti. Bulgaria conquered the city around 840. The name Ohrid first appeared in 879. The Ohrid Literary School was established in 886 by Clement of Ohrid and became one of the two largest cultural centers of the First Bulgarian Empire. Between 990 and 1015, Ohrid was the capital and stronghold of the Bulgarian Empire; and from 990 to 1018 it was the seat of the Bulgarian Patriarchate. Some Slavs from the north (6th and 7th centuries) settled in the city which became, at the level of the Balkans, a focus of Slavic culture.

At the dawn of the X century, Ohrid and its region became the center of missionary and educational activities when two disciples of the Slavic apostles Cyril and Methodius, who erected two monasteries, including that of Saint Pantaleon, founded by Clement of Ohrid. After the Byzantine reconquest in 1018 by Basil II, the Patriarchate of Bulgaria was demoted to the Archbishopric of Ohrid, administered under the authority of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

Church of San Juan Kaneo, in the historic center of the city, overlooking the lake of Ohrid.

Most clergy from 1018 were Greek, including the period of Ottoman rule, until the abolition of the archbishopric in 1767. At the turn of the century XVI, the archbishopric reached its zenith administering the exarchies of Sofia, Vidin, Vlach, and Moldavia, parts of the former medieval Serbian Patriarchate of Peć, and even the Orthodox districts of Italy, Venice, and Dalmatia.

As an episcopal city, Ohrid was a great cultural center for the Balkans. Almost all the churches that have come down to our days are Byzantine and Bulgarian, the rest of them are from the period of Serbian domination at the end of the Middle Ages.

Bohemond, commanding a Norman army, conquered the city in 1083; although the Byzantines recovered it two years later. During the 13th and 14th centuries, the city changed hands between the Epirus Despotate, the Bulgarian Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Serbian Empire, and Albanian rulers. In the mid-13th century, Ohrid was one of the cities ruled by Pal Gropa, a member of the Albanian Gropa family. In 1334, the city was conquered by Stephen Uroš IV Dušan and incorporated into the Serbian Empire. After Dusan's death, the city passed into the control of Andrea Gropa, and after his death, Prince Marko incorporated it into the Kingdom of Prilep. In the early 1370s, Pal II Gropa conquered Ohrid, another member of the Gropa family. In 1395, the Ottomans under Bayezid I made the city the seat of the Sanjacado of Ohrid. In September 1464, 12,000 troops from the League of Lezhë and 1,000 from the Republic of Venice defeated 14,000 men from the Ottoman Empire near the city. When Mehmed II returned from Albania after fighting Skanderbeg in 1466, he overthrew Dorotheos, the Archbishop of Ohrid, and expatriated him with his clerics, his boyars, and many other Ohrid citizens to Istanbul, probably for their anti-Ottoman activities during the war. Skanderberg's rebellion.

Modern and Contemporary Age

The city on the shore of the lake.

The Christian population declined during the first centuries of Ottoman rule. In 1664, only 142 Christian houses existed. The situation changed during the 18th century when Ohrid emerged as a major trade center on a trade route. At the end of the century there were five thousand inhabitants. At the turn of the 19th century the Ohrid region, like other European parts of the Ottoman Empire, was abuzz with arrests. During this century, Ohrid became part of the Scutari Pashalik, led by the Bushati family. After a plebiscite in 1874 in which the Christian population voted to join the Exarchate of Bulgaria (97%), the Exarchate came to dominate this area. At the end of the century, Ohrid was home to 2,409 houses with 11,900 inhabitants, of whom 45% were Muslims, while the rest were Catholics and Orthodox. According to statistics compiled by Vasil Kanchov in 1900, the city of Ohrid was inhabited by 8,000 Bulgarians, 5,000 Turks, 500 Muslim Albanians, 300 Christian Albanians, 460 Vlachs, and 600 Gypsies. The city remained under Ottoman control until November 29, 1912, when the Serbian Army conquered the city and became the capital of the Ohrid district. In September 1913, native Albanians and pro-Bulgarian leaders of the Macedonian Internal Revolutionary Organization revolted against the Kingdom of Serbia. It was occupied by the Bulgarian Empire between 1915 and 1918 during the First World War.

During the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Ohrid remained an independent district, later it was part of Bitola Oblast and finally it was part of Vardar Banovina. It was occupied by Bulgaria again during World War II. During communist Yugoslavia, Ohrid was the seat of the Ohrid Municipality. Since 1991 it belongs to North Macedonia.

Population

Samuel's fortress over the city.

The current population is 42,033 inhabitants.

Monuments

• Monastery of San Pantaleón de Ohrid
• Church of San Juan Kaneo
• Fortress of Samuel
• Greek Theatre of Ohrid