Basilica and martyr tomb discovered at Zrze archaeological site

A basilica of the fifth and a martyr tomb of IVth century are the new discoveries of excavation activities in the vicinity of Holy Transfiguration Monastery near Zrze. The discoveries confirm that Christianity was present in this area from the IVth century onward, archaeologist Branko Risteski told reporters.

- These discoveries are very significant for us and they justify the financial means we have been investing in researching. This is grand historic treasure for our country, said Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, who visited the site along with Culture Minister Elizeabeta Kanceska Mileska and Director of the Office for Protection of Cultural Heritage Pasko Kuzman.

Town of Dojran has its best Tourist season

Dojran beach.

During the summer tourist season, 135,000 overnight stays were realised in Dojran, which is 12.5 percent more than last year. With incomes that range from EUR 2m for overnight stays to EUR 3m, which includes service activities and entertainment, tourism has remained a dominant economic branch of this Municipality.
Furthermore, according to representatives of the Municipality, the biggest part of the income was collected by hotel capacities in Stari and Novi Dojran and 180 registered lessors of private weekend houses. Representatives added that 10 percent of the mentioned tourist income arrived to the municipal budget, which is more than expected.

President Ivanov at 64th UN General Assembly

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov will take part from today through September 26 at the 64th UN General Assembly in New York. Ivanov will address the general debate (Sept. 25) of the UN General Assembly and will participate at other forums and will hold series of bilateral meetings, media reports.
Ivanov will meet with NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Dutch PM Jan Peter Balkenende. He is also scheduled to meet with the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Upon an invitation of former US President Bill Clinton, Ivanov will participate at the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). Ivanov in New York will hold consultations with UN mediator Matthew Nimetz.
Greek FM Dora Bakoyannis is to meet with Nimetz, however her arrival at the General Assembly is uncertain due to health reasons. So far there are no announcements for direct meeting between Macedonian and Greek delegation.
The UN general debate will be held on 23-26 and 28-30 September 2009 at the Headquarters, gathering heads of state and government and foreign ministers of 192 UN member states. Hot topics will include climate change, nuclear disarmament, development, global financial and economic governance as well as international peace and security.
Established in 1945 under the Charter of the United Nations, the General Assembly occupies a central position as the chief deliberative, policy making and representative organ of the United Nations.

Macedonia added to Google Map Maker

Google Maps has made some updates that give them a more worldly view. First up, some European countries are gaining access to Map Maker. They are: Albania, Belarus, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia. Also getting the update is Malaysia, which, of course is in South Asia. Meanwhile, residents in Taiwan, Switzerland and Portugal now have access to Street View in Google Maps.

MANU's Encyclopedia causes stir

Macedonian Encyclopedia, presented Thursday at MANU's premises caused a stirr among the Albanian community and the US/UK Embassies. Daily paper Koha writes that the encyclopedia contains numerous "inaccuracies".
Two are mentioned as the most contradictory, the alleged training by U.S. and British specialists of the KLA members in the 2001 conflict, which caused a reaction of the US Embassies and UK Embassies in Skopje, both claiming the information is 'false' and 'ridiculous'.
Lets review this. This alleged training according to several British papers (Sunday Times, The Guardian, etc) did take place and at the time was a widely acknowledged fact in army circles and Balkan media. Does anyone remember Aracinovo? Flashpoint: Over 200 Albanian terrorists were surrounded by the Macedonian Army. The Albanians laid down their weapons and put their underwear on sticks to give a sign of their surrendering (captured by TV crews).
NATO prevented the Macedonian army from entering Aracinovo, went into the village utilizing 12 busses to transport the terrorists (who had previously threathen to bomb the Airport) back to safety in Kosovo (2). The following day, Deutche Welle claimed there were 19 NATO 'advisors' among the Albanians transported to Kosovo.
According to DW, NATO had panicked that the Macedonian army would capture their commanders/advisors. Later the Macedonian police entered Aracinovo and found numerous sophisticated satellite phones and equipment left behind. Though today Macedonia enjoys terrific relations with the US and the UK, facts shouldn't ashame anyone.
The second "scandal" is the text which tells the story of the Albanians in Macedonia, where they are named as "shiptari" that settled in Macedonia in the 16th century. The Albanian term for an 'Albanian' is "Shqiptar". I might have missed the "scandal" here.
The Macedonian Academy of Arts and Sciences stands behind their Encyclopedia saying it is a collective effort of numerous historians, scientists that took years to complete in which all data had been synthesized with facts and arguments that have been checked and re-checked by numerous relevant individuals and organizations.

Macedonian royal tomb found

A monumental round-formed Macedonian royal tomb belonging to the 4th century B.C. has been discovered at the Pavla Cuka site between the villages of Bonce and Podmol, Prilep area.
The tomb was erected with a ring of monolith stone blocks weighing up to 2 tonnes which have remained intact despite their 2.5-millennia age. According to archaeologists, the tomb is the only of the kind unearthed in the Balkans and it belonged to a great ruler. The finding has resulted from three-year excavations by Prof. Viktor Lilcic of the Institute of Art History and Archaeology of the Faculty of Philosophy, who presumes that the tomb belonged to the Pelagonija royal dynasty. A finding or an inscription will reveal which emperor the tomb belonged to.
Pasko Kuzman, Director of the Directorate for Protection of Cultural Heritage, who visited the compound yesterday afternoon, said an adequate infrastructure needs to be built if one wants to reach to pre-history.
He announced restoration, conservation and protection of the site. “This is of exceptional value for the Macedonian archaeology because such monumental structures are rare in the Balkans. It will attract much attention in the scientific archaeological community,” Kuzman said.
Archaeological excavations will continue next year as well with the support of the Ministry of Culture. Field examination is led by Antonio Jakimovski of the Institute of Archaeology and archaeologist Dusko Temelkoski of the Institute and Museum in Prilep.

MANU promotes Macedonian Encyclopedia

Macedonian Academy of Science and Art (MANU) launched Wednesday the first national "Macedonian Encyclopedia". Following years of preparation by the Lexicographic Center during which time 260 associates were engaged under the leadership of the chief editor, academician Blaze Ristovski, the Macedonian Encyclopedia was published this year with funds from the Government. 
Considering the criterion of objectivity, the editorial staff scientifically verified a myriad of facts that are contained in two volumes (A-Lj and M-Sh) in a total of 1.671 pages. The edition contains over 9.000 entries for persons, events, etc. with more than 5.000 illustrations. 
Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, welcoming the publishing of the Macedonian Encyclopedia, said it sublimated the knowledge of the modern Macedonian scholars about the complex appearance of the country, people and state. - The project may not fully depict the overall being and growth of Macedonia. However, it scans authentically Macedonia's point of view about its cultural and political past and present and strives to become an objective, integral information about us and our country, stated Gruevski. 
Academician Ristovski in his speech referred to its conception and background. - We've attempted to sum up the millenium development of Macedonia and the eras of the history of this nation. It includes millions of data, facts and arguments about the legitimacy of Macedonia in history and in modern times, said Ristovski. MANU president Georgi Stardelov stated the edition was the first Macedonian encyclopedia freed from foreign historical interpretations. 
- It is not only an encyclopedia of the Macedonian people, but also of the Macedonian state by presenting persons and events depicting the ethnic communities in Macedonia, especially the Albanian and Turkish ones, he said. MANU intends to publish the Macedonian Encyclopedia in an extended edition with several volumes and to transplate in into English.

Inside the Vrelo cave.

The Ministry of Economy granted Denar 80,000 (about EUR 1,300) to the 'Vrelo' Diving Club in support of its activities for exploring the underwater Vrelo cave of the Canyon of Matka. Next year the Ministry will earmark more funds for promoting the cave as a tourist destination and organizing a new expedition, Economy Minister Fatmir Besimi said Thursday at a meeting with the international divers that have been exploring the depth of Vrelo cave for the last two weeks.
Italian diver Luigi Casati, who is part of the international diving expedition, reached the depth of 192 meters, thus enlisting Vrelo in the deepest caves in Europe.
Vrelo, which was nominated for the new Seven World Wonders, has been researched for several times. Its horizontal length is 450 meters and 98 meters in vertical. According to speleologists' assessments, Vrelo's depth is 330m, thus being the deepest underwater cave in the world, surpassing the Bushman Hole in South Africa, which holds the Guinness Record with 282 meters.
For decades the Macedonian citizens and residents had been aware of the Vrelo Cave, but only recently ventured to investigate it.

Travel2Macedonia to be the first .mk to use Panoramio API

Travel to Macedonia team (www.travel2macedonia.com.mk) are proud to announce that we are the first .mk web site that has started using the Panoramio API. For the ones that haven't heard about Panoramio, please visit: www.panoramio.com.

Some examples:

• Matka Canyon
• Lesok monastery
• Heraklea Lynkestis, ancient town
• Holy Trinity church
• Kokino observatory
• Saint Joakim Osogovski monastery

More sights at: http://travel2macedonia.com.mk/tourist-attractions/macedonia

POLISH NEWSPAPER ARTICLE: MACEDONIA IS STRONG BECAUSE OF KING ALEXANDER

"Macedonia wielka jak jej krol Aleksander" says a nice interesting article which was published in Polish newspaper Gazeta Polska, about the Macedonians and our National team in Poznan.


Macedonia wielka jak jej król Aleksander

Radosław Nawrot

 

08.09.2009 , aktualizacja: 08.09.2009 22:20

A A A Drukuj

Wiele sympatii zyskali w Poznaniu kibice i koszykarze Macedonii. Toteż ich wczorajsze zwycięstwo nad Izraelem 82:79 zostało przyjęte z aplauzem przez niezbyt licznych polskich kibiców w Arenie

Kasa biletowa przed halą Arena mieści się w małej przyczepie kempingowej. Na niej kartka "bilety na Eurobasket. 60 zł, 80 zł, 120 zł", przy czym 80 zł już skreślono. - Do kas spływają bilety, które nie sprzedały się w internecie. Dlatego jeszcze je mamy, ale akurat nie na dziś. Na dziś zostało już tylko 200 sztuk - mówi pani kasjerka.

Trochę to dziwne, bo na trybunach podczas pierwszego meczu wczorajszego dnia, między Macedonią a Izraelem kibice wypełnili halę może w połowie...

You can read the Google translated version at this link: http://74.125.43.132/translate_c?hl=mk&sl=pl&tl=en&u=http://miasta.gazeta.pl/poznan/1,36006,7016163,Macedonia_wielka_jak_jej_krol_Aleksander.html&prev=hp&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=ALkJrhii0rWm29NjGulq5zvl6fSpjzyQnA

SKOPJE BIENNIAL 2009 OPENED

The 14th edition of the Biennial of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean titled “The Seven Gates” opened on Thursday evening in Skopje From the 3rd to the 12th September, Skopje will change into the most important window on young creativity. It will be the scene for the 14th edition of the Biennial of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean, an event which promotes new creative expressions since 1985, and aims to encourage dialogue and intercultural exchange among young protagonists of the Mediterranean culture.
In the next ten days, the fascinating and multiethnic capital of the Republic of Macedonia will be enlivened by hundreds of 18 to 30 year-old artists coming from 46 different countries, and it will be the scenery for expositions, performances, concerts, lectures, gastronomic events and much more.
Museums, city galleries, theatres, cultural centres, restaurants are the sites which will receive the artists and the huge variety of their works. The Biennial, promoted and organized by the International Association BJCEM (established in 2001 in Sarajevo) intends to be a multi-discipline event, including seven areas: Visual Arts (Plastic Arts, Photography, Installations, Art Performances, Video Art, Comics, Cyber Art); Music (Rock, Pop, Jazz, Folk/Ethno, Contemporary, Digital, DJs); Show (Theatre, Dance, Urban Performances); Literature (Writing, Poetry, Sound Poetry); Applied Arts (Architecture, Visual/Industrial/Web Design, Fashion, Digital Creation); Gastronomy; Images on the Move (Cinema, Video, Animated Cinema). The number seven reminds also to the theme of this year, “'The Seven Gates'”, which refers explicitly to an ancient legend linked to the origins of Skopje: according to this legend the city had been build on a huge spherical monolith, head of a giant, whose eyes, nose, ears and mouth correspond with the doors of the city.
The doors are the vehicle through which you can know and go deep into the Macedonian capital, and they become also the symbol of the exchange and of the transmission between the different cultures and artistic disciplines. The official opening ceremony will begin on “Macedonia” square at 19,00h, followed by a concert (21,00h) of several bands, such as Jacinto Canek from Italy with their modern rock and the Spanish Maldebares. Guest of the evening is the Conspiracy Band from USA.

STRING OF EARTHQUAKES IN DEBAR REGION

An earthquake measuring 7-8 degrees according to European Macroseismic Scale was felt late Sunday in western and central Macedonia. Epicentre of the quake, which happened at 23:49h, was 110 km southwest of Skopje.
Seismological observatory within Faculty of Science and Mathematics in Skopje reported that epicentre was on the territory of the neighbouring Albania, 15 km southwest of Debar. 

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY - MACEDONIA CELEBRATES 18TH

The Republic of Macedonia celebrates Tuesday its 18th anniversary since the successful referendum, at which Macedonian citizens voted for independent and sovereign state.
A convincing majority exceeding 95 percent of citizens who came out at the referendum on September 8, 1991 responded positively at the referendum question - Are you in favor of independent Macedonia with the right of its accession in a future alliance of sovereign Yugoslav states?
The results from the referendum were preceded by the adopted Declaration for Independence at the first multi party Macedonian Parliament on January 25, 1991. The will of the people for independent state was confirmed with the declaration for acceptance of the results from the referendum on September 18, 1991 at the Macedonian Parliament. The next important step in strengthening of the state was the adoption of the Constitution on November 17, 1991, which was supplemented after the 2001 conflict and signing of the Ohrid Framework Agreement. The international-legal status of the state was definitely confirmed by an acclamation of the United Nations General Assembly on April 8, 1993, when Macedonia was admitted as the 181st full-fledged UN member.

However, due to Greece's opposition and pressure regarding the constitutional name, the UN accession was carried out under interim reference Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). Talks for overcoming of the name dispute are still ongoing under UN auspices. Macedonia today has already established diplomatic relations with 160 states worldwide and is recognised under its constitutional name by 125 countries, three of which members of the UN Security Council - China, Russian Federation and the USA.
The 18 years of Macedonia's independence did not pass without problems and difficulties. Three-digit inflation at the beginning of the 1990s, the Greek embargo, Kosovo refugee crisis and 2001 conflict were real challenges and threats to a young Macedonian state which hindered her way in accomplishing the strategic goals - strengthening of democracy and integration in Euro-Atlantic structures.
In 2005 Macedonia gained EU candidate status. Process of approximation of Macedonian legislation with EU legislation, power decentralisation and defence reforms marked recent years.
Despite meeting all criteria for full-fledged membership in NATO at the Bucharest Summit in April 2008, the Republic of Macedonia received only conditional membership invitation after Greece - due to the name dispute - used the right of veto and blocked the accession. Macedonia celebrates its 18th anniversary in light of the new report from Brussels on the country's progress on the road to European integration, as well as date for start of EU membership talks.
Greece threatens again that due to the name dispute it will also block country's EU accession. Independence Day is celebrated with numerous ceremonies and events. Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanovski organised Monday evening a reception in the Parliament and the Macedonian Army marked the holiday by firing 10-gun salute in Skopje's Ilinden barracks.
On Tuesday, an academy will be held in the Macedonian Opera and Ballet, addressed by President Gjorge Ivanov.

Macedonian pianist Trpceski kicks off European tour on Monday

Macedonian top pianist Simon Trpceski will kick off a European tour on Monday with his performance within the PROMS 2009 Festival at the Cadogan Hall in London. On September 10, Trpceski will open the season of the the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra with Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.3. Furthermore, Trpcevski will have his debut in Norway, Trondheim, than again London for opening of the International Piano Series 2009/10 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Trpcevski's tour in November includes a series of concerts in Germany, Luxembourg, and is to be crowned on December 3 with the grand final in London Royal Festival Hall.