TRADITIONAL HOUSES
IN MACEDONIA - PART II

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DEBAR

The Debar houses are among the most richly decorated. The big .chardaks have several levels and are enclosed with rows of windows which in summer are removed, opening the chardak towards the spacious yard. There are asymmetrical houses where the cchardak is placed in front of the rooms, and symmetrical houses with transversally placed (chardaks. Living rooms are especially rich in decoration with domed or flat ceilings exhibiting the combined techniques of mortared and carved parts. Such rooms have many framed squares in which flower motifs are painted. Cupboards and fireplaces are also richly treated with carvings and painted decorations. The porch on the ground floor is open.

KICHEVO

In Kievo there were two types of houses as well, the symmetrical with an emphasised open chardak and semi-circular unglazed window apertures, and the asymmetrical with an open and a barn. Plastered stucco work, traditionally used since the time of the ancient Macedonians, was used for decoration of the ceiling together with a painted decoration of flower motifs. It is interesting to note that the change from the traditional to the neo-classical house is achieved with the use of the same wooden construction materials while only the facade is mortared with neo-classical details.
There are various solutions for the houses in the villages near Kievo; for example, the houses of the village of Velmevci have semi-circular bifiral apertures on the balconies of the characteristic semi-detached family houses.

OHRID

Most of the Ohrid houses are asymmetrical, built on steep location in condensed blocks with very small yards. This situation forced the builder to respond by creating a ground floor that opened into the yard, thereby fully exploiting the space available, and a mezzanine space for use in the winter.
The floor usually has an irregular chardak in order to create more spacious rooms by using the space outside of the location with console jutty. This results in a very vivacious facade with orientation and lines of sight toward the lake. All the houses are different and sport lively facades which create a dynamic ambience.
One of the most famous houses in Ohrid is the house of the Robev family: although it has been adapted to become a museum, its concept of living space is completely preserved and visitors can, in addition to viewing the museum exhibits, enjoy the rich interior, the domed carved ceiling, fireplaces and other details characteristic of Macedonian architecture.

BITOLA

Bitola is a town which has existed for centuries with high living standards, particularly in the 19th century when it was a diplomatic centre. It is one of the Macedonian towns which lost a major part of its 19th century buildings in a fire; rebuilding was made in neo-classical style under the influence of Constantinople and Salonica. The few remaining older buildings have identical structures and characteristics; the symmetrical solutions o have a central chardak which ends in a balcony with a tympanum while the asymmetrical houses have an open chardak. Characteristic of the houses in Bitola are the ubiquitous jutties - sometimes there are two or three in the upper floor - and the role of the condensed windows. The low height, the closeness and the subtlety of the architecture are also typical.

VELES

The amphitheatral disposition of Veles on both sides of the Vardar led the numerous local building groups (among the most famous is Andreja Damjanov's group) to construct many buildings with asymmetrical chardaks;
their vivacious use of space utilized every centimetre of the insufficient location. In Veles housing there is an inner chardak in an enclosed and covered yard, and the rooms are arranged on several levels. Wooden ceilings with richly carved circular or square forms can be found in many houses. In the second half of the 19th century, the eaves were painted in flower motifs, and the year of building was recorded. Wooden staircases are found in different positions. In one house there are railings of six different finishes. The most exposed part of the chardak is the raised minsofa* (with its gravity-defying suspension by twisted struts. The lively facades allow a view onto the street from all the buildings.

SKOPJE

There are numerous Jewish court docLments from the 16th and the 17th century which describe the multi-storied houses in Skopje in detail. Most of the houses had one floor with (chardaks where some of the activities of the inhabitants took place. House painters were mentioned frequently because they troubled the neighbours with their messes and unpleasant odours, for which they were often sued.
Skopje cannot boast many buildings from the 19th century because of the 1963 earthquake in which most of them were ruined. In the centre of the city one impressive example has been preserved, with rich ceilings and many details characteristic of this architecture: sergens, cupboards, wooden ceilings, twisted fences and partly raised enclosed: chardak with a row of windows.


STRUMICA

The local climate in Strumica is the reason for building open houses with spacious chardaks and minsofas on the fa(ade, primarily because of the need for creating shade where people could work and live. The houses were placed on steep locations and had transversally placed chardaks and an entrance on every level of the house. The ceilings were octagonal with
a rosette in the middle, the richest one being in the living room. The ground floor was open, with a porch on pillars, and at the back of the porch the storerooms were placed, usually dug in. The living rooms were on the ground floor in the deep shadow of the spacious (chardaks. The jutties were often supported by struts, which were decorative as well as functional, thus making the open facade even more lively.

STRUGA

This town spreads along the shores of Ohrid Lake and along the river Drim. The characteristic houses have one floor and with a single room, while the rest belongs to the open chardak with a high wooden fence. There are also houses with mezzanines and a two-storey high porch.

KRIVA PALANKA

This region is known for the groups of builders who worked in Serbia and Bulgaria. The most characteristic type in this town is the symmetrical house with emphasised jutty and transversally placed chardak with two rooms on each side of the chardak.

KRATOVO

Kratovo is the Macedonian town with the largest number of old bridges, towers and houses with tympanums.
The houses with domed carved ceilings, fireplaces, sergeni and cupboards can be seen in several variants. In one of the buildings, the floor of the chardak , is solved on two levels, one with planks and the other with ceramic plates in a "Z" shape. The Kratovo houses have mezzanines, a two-storey high porch and a complete utilisation of the location as was the case with the houses in Ohrid and Veles.
In Kratovo, Muslim house complexes with selamliks and haremliks have been preserved. The symmetrical haremlik is located on rocks high
above the river, with a spacious transversally placed chardak with two rooms on each side of the (chardak. Towards the river the (chardak is closed and in the yard it transforms into an open porch, making the most of the terrain.

KRUSHEVO

Because of the amphitheatral position of Krusevo,. the houses are placed accordingly, literally rising from the ground and adapting to the terrain with emphasised lines of sight and sometimes, an advantage is given to the orientation. The first level is partly dug in and usually served as a storeroom for food and firewood. The second level was used for living in winter, while the third level was used in summer. There are symmetrical and asymmetrical houses. According to the plans, there are six shapes of houses in Kru{evo: square, rectangular, "I" - shaped, "-" - shaped, "U" -shaped and cascade. Each type of plan has symmetrical and asymmetrical solutions and none are completely identical.
Martinovski Gallery - Krusevo The houses have one or two floors and most have a painted tympanum with the year of construction engraved on it. A balcony with a forged iron fence shows the location of the closed (chardak.
The disposition of the rooms differs in accordance with the configuration of the terrain, the economical resources and the needs of the owner. Neo-classical influences can be observed in the baroque elliptical window above the balcony door, which was protected with a wooden rosette, most often sun-shaped or with a forged iron fence.

SHTIP

The majority of the preserved houses from the 19th century are in Novo Selo, today a part of the town. The terrain was raised and the house was entered from several levels. A combination of construction systems was used, with stone walls in the cellar and the northern walls and a timber framed construction of the floors.
The family of Arsov house was built along a symmetrical double axis with a cross-like (chardak with balconies at the ends of the branches. The ground floor, used as a storeroom, was entered with a cart. Today this building has been restored and adapted to use as a museum and Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments.




FORTRESSES

In the second half of the 9th century there were already developed Slav towns which in the time of Samuil proved a substantial obstacle to the Byzantine army, including: Her (Veria), Voden (Edessa), Kostur (Kastoria), Pelagonia, Maleevo, Ohrid, Ostrovo, Polog, Prespa, Prilep, Ser (Seres), Skopje, Strumica, gtip and so on.
The town was usually divided into upper and lower parts of the town -suburbs. In the upper part, the palaces of noblemen were built and the lower part of the town contained the houses of serfs, artisans, farmers etc.
The upper part had a fortress for protection of the noblemen but also for protection of the people living outside the town walls. The fortresses were built on high places, difficult to reach because of the configuration of
the terrain and from where the passages could be controlled. The walls were massive, with several gates and some towns had secret exits. The soldiers guarded the entries and defended the town.
The most important fortresses which survived into the present are the fortresses in Skopje, Samuil's fortress in Ohrid, Markovi Kuli in Prilep, gtip's Hisar, Carevi Kuli (Tower of the Tsar) in Strumica and others.
The Skopje fortress is located in the centre of the city on the left bank of the Vardar, rising above the city with its dominant architectural silhouette. The fortress has two ramparts and fortification elements from different periods, starting from 535 AD and continuing into conservatory interventions in the period 1964-1974.
The Skopje fortress has a plan in the form of an extended five-sided pentagon with a longitudinal axis of 330 m and a cross axis of 160 m. From the first defensive line, 14 towers with different shapes were found: ellipsis shaped, square, circular, triangular and polygonal. Also, one mediaeval gate from the southern rampart was found together with two square-shaped tower bastions; the north-eastern gate had a drawbridge and a moat in front. From the second defensive line three towers were preserved. One was round; two formed bridges (and were formerly drawbridges) and contained gates. One gate was in the forms of a double arch made of brick (19th century).
The good geographical location enabled continuous life of the Ohrid fortress, known as Samouil's Fortress, which has two ramparts. The first rampart spreads over Gorni
Saray or Visoko Kale, and the second over the lower eastern part, Deboj. The walls are 10-16 m high. The fortress has an irregular shape and has 18 defensive towers and four gates: Iron Gate, Upper Gate, Front Gate and Lower Gate. The remains of the Macedonian-Helenistic, the .Roman, and the later ancient period are clearly differentiated, and the rebuildings and the adjustments are from the mediaeval and Turkish periods. Ohrid was one of the main towns of Samouils's kingdom and the centre of the Ohrid Archbishopric.
North from Prilep above Varo, high in the rocks the Markovi Kuli incorporates cultural layers dating from the Neolithic period to the 19th century. The natural whole of the four tops form the fortress which is considered to be among the five biggest fortresses on the Balkan Peninsula. The fortress is organised in three defence lines, finally formed in the later middle ages. In the middle of the fortress there were two water towers. The towers of the fortress have different shapes: square, rectangular, circular, ellipsis and irregular. Today's fortress, with low walls and merlons, dates from the time of the Byzantine tsar Andronicus II. In the time of the Latin Empire (1204-1261) the fortress encompassed the top (ardak together with the palace and the residence of the commander of the town. The fortress includes remains of the representative palace, built in the 10th century, located north-east of the main gate; there are also remains of feudal castles, a complex of several buildings with residential and economic characteristics and a church from the 12th-14th century. gtip's fortress, the Hisar, also bears the name Markovi Kuli and is 350 m long forming a mild arch in the north-south direction. The walls are 10-15 m high and they follow almost the same level. The river Bregalnica makes a natural trench from the north and west while from the south the dry riverbed of Otinja had a similar, function. The east and the west side were easier to approach so here the suburbs developed. In the 17th century the fortress was already partly ruined (Evliya (elebi and Haci Kalfa). The ruining was a result of the resistance the Turks put up against the attack of Piccolomini who conquered gtip in 1689.
Carevi Kuli is a fortress from the Late Antiquity and the Middle AgeS. Built on the southern part of the high plateau above the town of Strumica, it has a length of approximately 100 m and a wall-width of 2.5 m. It had water cisterns and an entrance with a drawbridge at the southern part. In the 17th century it was abandoned and ruined (Haci Kalfa).


Ministry of information of Republic of Macedonia

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