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