INTERNATIONAL BIENNIAL OF MINI-PRINTS

Четврто меѓународно биенале во мала графика - Тетово 2010

2009-09-05T11:21:00.002+02:00

Четврто меѓународно биенале во мала графика - Тетово 2008

2008-04-07T00:26:00.027+02:00

На 26 март 2008 година во Центарот за култура во Тетово беше отворена изложбата на мала графика - Четврто меѓународно биенале во мала графика - Тетово 2008.

Жирито ги додели следните награди:

Grand Prix - Калојан Илиев - Бугарија
прва награда - Зоран Јакимовски - Република Македонија
втора награда - Вирај Наик - Индија
трета награда - Маркос Варела - Бразил
две откупни награди - Ивана Настеска и Нагиб Исмаили - Република Македонија
Специјална награда на жирито освои Вилела Тера од Бразил

Изложбата ја отвори заменик министерот за култура во Владата на РМ Слободан Деспотоски.
За Биеналето пред тетовската публика зборуваше и Веле Цветановски - spiritus movens на биеналето. Според него ова биенале е веќе влезено во календарите на големите графички изложби во светот од овој вид (Краков).

Графики од изложбата...
За ова биенале пристигнаа1200 графики од 300 автори од 50 земји од целиот свет.

Публиката со голем интерес ги разгледуваше експонатите...

Велимир Цветановски и Александар Настески

Од подготовките...

Тетово - градот домаќин на Биеналето.

Fourth International Biennial of Mini Prints - Tetovo 2007

2007-07-03T22:07:00.001+02:00

The launch of this associate with us, The Fourth International Mini-print Graphics 2007 - according to the tradition on doorsteps by the entrance to the Europen Union, we are meditating as a cosmopolite. The troubles in this regions are as same as they are in all countries. The culturals and traditions autochthonous, are endangered by the recently urbanized man who is looking for to reclaim the heritage.
New age named “The architecture of the new time” indeed is consequence from a mathematical function which doesn’t look after to the captured space.
Macedonia have had over four thousand archaeological area from: early neolith, classical, roman, up to late middle century.

How can we preserve them?

The battle against trading with antiques and ”businessmen” is the biggest problem of all countries from the third world. As it’s with ours. “The rich” always find the way how to get what do they want in. The past, present and the future are the one’s nations identity.
We are actively seeking for:
to work on popularization to the diversity of one another to one after the other, and with your graphics to send a massage for:

LET’S PROVIDE THE PROTECTION OF SMALL NATIONS’ CULTURAL HERITAGE!

Working regulations of the International Exhibition of Mini Prints “Tetovo – 2007”
1. Organizer “Museum of Tetovo Area” Tetovo, Art Gallery in the “Center of culture”
2. All the administrative and professional work at this exhibition will be done by the authorities of the museum, the Administrative and the Art committee
3. Every artist who do prints have the right to participate
4. Acceptable tehniques:
a) copper etching
b) wood carving
c) litography
d) combined
5. The work must not be bigger than 15x15 cm, and the paspartout not bigger then 20x20 cm (shape of the paper)
6. Each work must not be signed and backiside should be the sticker of the organized that is atached below
7. The work should be send by air -mail or personaly delivered to “Muzej na Tetovskiot kraj” ul. Radovan Conic br. 92, 1200 Tetovo, Republika Makedonija. If you have any queries do not hesitate to contact us on tel.no.: ++389 44 338 902; or fax.: ++ 389 44 338 902
8. Each artist should submit five prints
9. One of the prints (by your choise) will remain as property of museum
10. A Jury consisting of five professionals in the field of art will select the winning prints
11. Prizes of the exhibition are:
a) Grand Prix ( first prize)
b) Tree equall prizes and
c) Two prizes that will be purchased by the museum
12. Prizes will be purchased in USD
13. “Museum of Tetovo Area” will take the responsibility for any damage or loss that may occur from the moment they get the work
14. The works damaged during the transport will be examined by commission and a report will be send to the artist
15. Once the Exhibition is over, all the exhibition prints will be send back to each participating artist
16. The exhibition will not be held in case of exceptional circumstances
17. Participation in the exhibition implies the acceptance of the above conditions
18. The Organized will produce a cataloque that will be send to each participating artist
19. Exhibition opens December 04.2007 and close January 04.2008
20. “Museum of Tetovo area” reserves the right to reproduce and exhibit any work accepted for promotional or cultural purposes
21. Every work will send back to artist 90 days after the end od the exhibition
22. Last Day to send Your Graphics is November 15.2007

# Supported by Ministry of Culture of Republic of Macedonia and the Local Administration of Tetovo

This is the addres on which you show up your
sending works:
National Institution of Museum of Tetovo Area,
ul.Radovan Conic br. 92, 1200 Tetovo
Republic of Macedonia

Tel.: ++ 389 44 338 902
Fax.: ++ 389 44 338 902
E-mail: tetovo_muzej@yahoo.com

Third International Biennial of Mini Prints - Tetovo 2005

2007-07-03T22:06:00.001+02:00

Third International Biennial of Mini Prints - Tetovo 2005 - Critique

2007-07-03T22:05:00.001+02:00

HOMO ECOLOGICUS UNIVERSALIS

The sfumato-like, complexly collaged theme of the 3rd International Biennial of Small Prints emanates in a synchronic manner the dense entropic net of varied intertwining concepts. Although for his type of events the themes are not a decisive motive for the artists, nevertheless, we can state that at this year's Biennial (with 200 participants from 36 countries) in their works, the majority of them actualize and cover the theme suggested by the organizers.
However, it is possible to identify and distinguish the presence of the behaviourist principle in the work of almost all the authors as the fundamental thread that runs through and links the various themes and sub-themes of this extensive topic via a general or, sometimes, more reduced concept. The epicentre of all the defined or undefined themes and this is true of this concrete case is man or the manifestations of his ethical or aesthetical attitude to this environment and the world that surrounds him.
The majority of authors who present their work at this year's Biennial strive to speak to us, through their varied stylistic discourses and subtle humour and irony, about man's grotesque and self-destructive being. Man's nature and the nature of manifestations and relations related to him and his world is, without doubt, a great provocation for the artists. They recognize both themselves and their own attitude to the world through others. This means that speaking through others is always the peak of the narcissist, that is, self-referential observation, evaluation and re-evaluation.
Hence, in its long history, man's omnipotent being has always been either on a pedestal or at its bottom. He is God and Satan at the same time, an incarnation of both good and evil, the Maker's co-maker, a reflection of the Archfiend, causa sui and causa.. Sublime and trivial, greedy and insatiate, obsessed with dark powers of his destructive instincts, he has danced over the millennia on the edge of creation and destruction. In the achievements of his self-coreographed dance, we recognize the incessant suicidal dance in the rhythm of the triggero Russian roulette.
The metaphor of this horrifying dance, that is, its consequences are especially relevant today, in the era of computer technology, and is reflected in almost all areas of human activity, particularly in the sphere of the eco-system. The earthling permanently and ruthlessly snaps at himself and his/our only home for which we have no other alternative.
However, the prevention of global degradation of nature also involves the complete reparation of the spirit of the most powerful military and political elites on the planet. It is from them that the regeneration of nature and the generation of the global neo-humanist concept should begin, a concept which would be based on a new cultural revolution different from the previous ones. Such a neo-humanist cultural revolution does not involve only the ecology of the spirit of the inhabitants of the Earth, but also his active and permanent transformation, acceptance and solving of world ecological problems as his own.
The small prints of the authors presented at this Biennial, although deprived of real power, try to appeal once again to the conscience and awareness of the relevant political elites and remind them that its is about time they began the establishing of a new homo ecologicus universalis.

Koncha Pirkoska

Second International Biennial of Mini Prints - Tetovo 2003 - Organizers

2007-07-03T21:50:00.000+02:00

Tetovo is situated at the crossroads of European culture and influences of the Orient. These Macedonian parts have been witnesses to the intermingling of many peoples and cultures. Since the Neolithic onwards, numerous finds have been speaking to us of an intensive life filled with a permanent struggle to create works of art.

The creative imagination, evidently enriched with the experience inherited from time, has resulted in rich and varied activity in the field of graphic art whose very first origins we find carved in the clay pottery form the Early Neolithic period excavated in Tumba Madžari, Govrlevo and Tumba Stenče.

The Tetovo Regional Museum has the honour of organizing for a second time an international event at which, once again, artists from all over the world will meet. This gathering is also an opportunity to get acquainted with various cultures; here, the artists will have a chance to present their achievements both as individuals and as representatives of their respective nations.

The 1st Biennial was organized at a time of armed conflict, when our city suddenly found itself amidst the storm of the Apocalypse. The organizers worked under very difficult circumstances, but they worked with ‘things of beauty’ and this is precisely what painting and drawing are. Our wish was to stand up against the mindlessness of “the wise”, but thought about the future of our country with deep pessimism. Rivers of refugees wandered aimlessly, leaving their hearths which had been turned into “ghost towns”. The thought that those belonging to the opposing sides in the conflict could live together appeared somewhat utopian. Cooperation was nowhere in sight. And yet, prudence prevailed and we are happy to be together again because it cannot be otherwise.

We believed in peace and this, naturally, gives us the right to feel pride. Our investment, although small, bore fruit.

More than 250 participants from 44 countries will participate in this, the 2nd Biennial, with over 1,200 prints. It is thrice the number of artists who participated in the 1st Biennial, a figure that testifies to our overall growth and enrichment.

We are aware that every creation depends on the gift and skill of the individual. Therefore, we welcome the achievements of the participants as a new step on the road to permanent improvement and conquest of new horizons. The works of art that have been created for this event are a unique living bridge for the establishment of dialogue between nations. At the same time, they are works of art created for the viewers and their spiritual catharsis.

I would like to wish a long and fruitful life to our Biennial that was born in “hard times”, and yet, on time. Those who love peace always walk on the path that leads to every corner of our planet.

Velimir Cvetanovski, Art Manager

Second International Biennial of Mini Prints - Tetovo 2003 - Critique

2007-07-03T21:27:00.001+02:00

Koncha Pirkoska

The title of the 2nd Biennial of Small Prints held in Tetovo, Enter the City and Exit is, above all, a reference to a complex and interdisciplinary structured socio-cultural phenomenon which incorporates the spheres of politics, economy, psychology, ecology, etc.

Before we address -- only briefly -- this complex issue, we would like to focus on the history of the concept of polis, megapolis, or urbs.[1] It leads not only to the sphere of archaeology, but also to its archetypal structure recognized in the matrix of the mythological image of the labyrinth.

Through history, the concept of polis gradually developed into megapolis, the term used today for cities with millions of inhabitants. We can continue identifying these modern cities with genuine city-states (this is what they have become) due to the size of their territory and population. The incidence of various urban problems that are generated in the anthropocentric sphere depends on the size of such cities.

We will now address the issues raised by the theme of the Biennial, Enter the City and Exit, in a more concrete manner. The noun city, a concept towards which the two verbs, enter and exit, gravitate, holds the central position. The absence of the subject -- the doer of the action -- in the syntactic order is replaced by the presence of the verbs. In the contextual order, they imply the presence of the subject, as well as its permanent flow into and out of the noun. The absent subject exists as a reason per se, a reason in and of itself; however, it also articulates and establishes the causative link between itself and the noun city. Perhaps the theme itself does not explicitly indicate the dense and invisible layers on the map of the cities that exist in reality. The superficial perception cannot recognize and exactly interpret the signs that are deeply impressed into the palimpsest structure of the city since each symbol of the script of the megapolis is polysemic, evasive and unreachable. Through a simulation of that which is always the Other, the symbols conceal their multi-valence and their multi-dimensional nature. Seduction and manipulation are their immanent feature. This seduction directs the subject towards the city’s blind alleys, pushing it into the labyrinths of its invisible but essentially present ideological context that directly stimulates the cannibalistic principle of megapolises.

The permanent fluctuation of the phenomenon immigration/migration, i.e., the inborn human nomadic syndrome or syndrome of territoriality, actualizes in its sub-context the simultaneous survival and deletion of the continuation of communication, and a generation of alienation or of an interior individual and collective exile. However, in this post-technological era, the problem of alienation, despite the global electronic communication, is diagnosed as one of the crucial urban diseases of modern man.

We experience the complex infrastructure and the permanent kinetic concept of the megapolis as a real, not an imaginary mythic labyrinth.

Each of the prints made by the two hundred selected artists from forty-four countries articulates, through its respective discourse, its own ode to or lamentation over urban life experienced in a variety of ways. These prints are imbued with different motifs. Some of the artists present the metaphysical silence of the desolate urban districts; others, in turn, display fragments of floral motifs and idyllic landscapes, while there also those who foresee the horrid sounds of a monumental danse macabre. The modern Theseus, suicidal and lost, is impotent before the cannibalistic Minotaur, he cannot set himself free from the incessant and merciless absorption and extinction. The absence of Ariadne’s thread in the present-day urban labyrinths is evident. Theseus himself has cut it off, just as he has cut off the umbilical cord that tied him to the earth. He has long stopped being a measure of all things and has become a slave to all things and all passions. He substituted the Roman columbaria for modern funerary dwellings called skyscrapers or solitaires, a French word for alone, lonely, desolate.

We would like to focus -- very briefly -- on the predominant issues, that is, on the issues addressed in most of the selected prints, in which they are articulated in a number of ways. They deal with the presence of the problem of human desolation, loneliness, isolation and alienation from the others and from oneself, since alienation from the others is, in fact, a subtle and quiet alienation from ourselves and from the essence of our being. The artists are exactly such beings, they are subtle and hyper-sensitive individuals, almost chthonic in their nature; with their instincts and intuition they record and experience all kinds of changes that take place in the context of city-states.

It seems that today, in time of peace, there is nothing more horrifying than the sight Baudriard saw on the streets of a megapolis such as New York. It was the hopeless picture of loneliness that dominates our daily lives and is projected onto them. The depression of humankind is manifested today through the image of “vast numbers of people who think alone, sing alone, eat alone and talk to themselves in the streets…But every kind of loneliness is unique. It is the loneliness of a man who prepares his meal in public, on a wall, on the hood of a car, next to a railing, alone. Here, you see it everywhere, it is the saddest sight in the world, sadder than misery; the man who eats alone before the eyes of others is sadder than a beggar. There is nothing more paradoxical than the difference between the threats inherent in the human community and the world of beasts, because the beasts either share their food or grab it from each other, thus showing mutual respect

[1] The first settlements with developed infrastructure and a constituted government that concentrated its political and spiritual power in the first city-states appeared in Europe in the beginnings of the historical epoch. These city-states developed literacy and legislation, and in the course of time, other forms of organization of urban life. Since then, “over a time span of five millennia, these relations have become increasingly more complex and have been changing in accordance with the new historical, social and other phenomena that resulted from common life on a single territory.” (I. Miklulcic).

First International Biennial of Mini Prints - Tetovo 2001

2007-07-03T21:23:00.000+02:00

Little step in third millenium

Museum of Tetovo area is organizer of “The First Biennial of Mini prints in Tetovo 2001”
This international manifestation is arranging in very difficult conditions, when the war which has happened for many months created a climate for impossible working.
Such an idea to organize project like that in our city, in these days, means grate courage. We had additional problems like organizers with the place of performance. Galeria in the complex of "Arabati Baba Teqe" is still insecure place to work.
There is a few reasons, becouse we resolved to persevere up to the end in organization of the Biennial and they are:
- This is unique cultural performance in Tetovo which is happening to us this year in the war time, when all other projects of the Museum are broken off.
- Support of the minister of culture Miss.Ganka Samoilova - Cvetanova, who provided financial resources to encircle organization of the Biennial whenever.
- More letters of the partakers - painter artists, which contents did not give us possibility to break off.
Creator is resisting to apokalipsa of destroying of cultural - historical monuments wounding and killing, only with his creation.
- Debt to all Macedonian who belive that only one defeat doesn't means the end that the life must go on.
Maybe somebody will think that is demagogical and unhumane to organize performances of such a character in the time when thousands off people are displaced.
People who lives throgh centuries on this area are forced to leave their native pleace's and to wander like trampes in their own country.
But sincerely we hope that like swan who is dancing his last dance before going to south, hoping that will returne on spring time, and people will returne at home and will hear there life song again.
On this Biennial will take part 118 artists of 37 countries with 485 creations.
Indeed it is just a bridge of artistic communications, exchanging apparently opposite ideas, but they are creators who seriously create a miraculous symbols, magic signs full of artistical creation.
In this days which are not too much fulfilled with happines and joy we expresse our great gratitude to all participants who gave us that chance to communicate with their creations full of secret
emotions, erotic charge and expressive to Lorka, Borhes, Lalic and Janevski.

Velimir Cvetanovski

The Otherness of the Other

The present unstable war/post-war image of the Republic of Macedonia can be analogous in many ways with the symbolic message of Paul Klee's Angelus Novus.
I will try to paraphrase briefly Walter Benjamin's fascination with it. He interprets Klee's
Angel as the angel of history whose face is turned towards the past and all its catastrophes and horrors. The Angel wishes he could stop and wake up the dead in order to put together that which has been broken, but he cannot. Saddened by the sight he leaves behind, he prepares to fly into the future with spread wings, carried by a storm sent from Heaven.

In spite of the strong urge to forget the sight that Klee's Angel leaves behind, to remain silent in the face of horror and cover up the traces of human violence, we cannot ignore the fact that the idea for the realization of the First International Biennial of Mini Prints in Tetovo was born in an unstable environment. As the pressure of war accumulated, the spiritual resistance in the organizers increased; in the past months it was encouraged and supported by a large number of participants from abroad. In the beginning of this millennium, amidst destroyed cultural and historical monuments and damaged paintings and collections, the staff of the Tetovo Museum organized the Firsf Biennial of Mini Prints; surrounded by insecurity and uncertainty, they prepared to make a step towards the future through art.

The problem of local or global totalitarianism usually hides behind economic, class, cultural, ethnic, religious, racial or military violence. The general hypocrisy that is permanently promoted with the slogan peace through war continues to be practiced with all its cynicism and force in the new millennium in various parts of the world. The pressure of one political elite over the masses, of one large group over the smaller one, or of the smaller group over the larger, of I over the Other or of the Other over the Different One is a problem that will persist as long as the Earthling refuses to accept the inevitable and necessary difference and show respect for the Otherness of the Other who is not radically Other or Different, but is the Same as I. To take upon yourself the responsibilities of the other, to give the other precedence over yourself (E. Levinas) is a great challenge that is not only a religious but, above all, an ethical act for each every human being strives. I needn't blame the Other for my handicap or defect or interpret It as the Other's violence against me which I must fight with counter-violence; on the contrary, I must channel my destructive energy in another direction and replace it with creativity.

The present context spontaneously imposes the philosophical hetero-ontological principle, i.e., the principle of the Other as the necessary prerequisite for its understanding. As at all international gatherings, at this Biennial, too, Otherness is present a priori, it is taken for granted and is accepted with love. It is implied in the banal example of the entering of the participants' names in the catalogue in alphabetical order, as much as in the distribution of awards.

If the Other were absent, it would make my presence impossible, it would hinder it and negate me as a subject and my differentiation and identification within a local or global context. The Other is my Narcissist mirror without which I cannot survive, cannot see or recognize myself or admire myself/the Other. Therefore, the presence of the Other and Otherness is necessary, above all, because of my egoism, identification and survival as a spiritual being. It is precisely
such international events that confirm the indispensability of Otherness because without the Other, there is no interaction, no exchange of differences, no progression of the subject, no promotion of the being's wholeness.

The primordial source of the print and its generation can perhaps be sought for in something Different, that is, in the impressed archaic image (of the palm), of the carved, inscribed or printed grapheme, in the system of writing. Unlike the oral, ephemeral, ethereal message, the trace of the grapheme may have been initiated by the cryptic, fixed message that strives
towards a long-term transfer of knowledge. It is has been addressed to the Other, to the unknown and abstract one since eternity. Unlike the grapheme and its later prehistoric and historical transfer and development into the exact word, sentence or text (that could be cryptic and accessible only to the few elect ones), the cawed, impressed or inscribed image, though
mimetic and direct, has always been characterized by its wider freedom in the expression of the message; and yet, it has always remained cryptic, inaccessible and mysterious. Its trace left on a variety of materials -from which various media and techniques as part of other concrete media were differentiated in the recent cultural and historical periods - speaks of a primordial, genetically encoded and insatiate need for a spiritual communication and exchange with the Other.

As opposed to the other classical media of visual art, graphic arts have, to some extent, an advantage over the other disciplines within this field. The possibilities that graphic art offers for production and reproduction include the technically less complicated options for distribution and communication. In addition to the democratization of art, the graphic medium has made possible, in an indirect way, the cultural decentralization and demonapolization of art through the biennial and triennial events organized by the cultural mega-centres in different parts of this world.

Regardless of the technique in which a print is executed in the process between the design of the original plate and pulling of the proofs, the required skill of the artisan and the alchemy are always accompanied by a sophisticated and invisible erotic principle. Every graphic work is followed by a binary opposition, the sensory relation between I and the Other and the link between the male/ productive and female/reprodtrctive principles. The body of the plate/matrix stands for the passive and subdued maternal and generative principle, while the avtistlinitiator stands for creative power. With the instruments/tools used for carving, scratching and etching of the body of the plate (the future matrix), the artist as the dominant and active paternal principle initiates the necessary and reversible emotional erotic current through creative manipulation and its articulation. The simultaneous and reciprocal revoking and emanation of the energy of the print depends on the culture and power of the artist's skill and mastery of the technique and on the density of the Eros and Lagos that are impressed onto the matrix. In the creative process, the graphic artists impress themselves onto the mirror of the matrix and inscribe their code, thus reproducing and 'cloning' the image of their narcissism
onto the future work of art. Before the eyes of the recipient, the mirror is the artist's double that reflects the face of hislher Other, protegee or traitor.

This Biennial presents 118 graphic artists from 37 countries. Their work are executed in a variety of techniques that range from classical to digital; they exhibit various stylistic and conceptual levels of expression and emanate various cultural backgrounds and different creative discourses. Generally speaking, they are permeated with the invisible, and yet present and comprehensible idea of creative self-identification, dialogue and exchange of spiritual energy with the Other/Same. It is the Others, i.e., the public, that finish the work as its recipients, since every work of art simultaneously emanates its author and generates its observer/observers.

In wishing the Biennial longevity and a different humanistic and cultural environment, I would like to quote the words of the French theoretician Tsvetan Todorov that seem particularly relevant to the circumstances in which this Biennial was organized. In his study We and the Others, he states the following: "A well-balanced humanism could protect us from past and present misconceptions. Let us put an end to easy associations: the demand for the legal equality of all human beings does not imply at all a decline from the hierarchical scale of values ... the freedom of the individual does not oblige us to reject every solidarity; the consequence of the acknowledgement of one kind of public morality is not inevitable regression to the time of religious intolerance and the Inquisition, just as the demand for being in touch with nature does not mean that man will return to the caves."

Konca Pirkoska

Tetovo, Republic of Macedonia

2007-07-03T19:30:00.000+02:00

Tetovo is located at the foothills of the Shar Mountain in north-western Macedonia, 468 m above the sea level, on the edge of the Polog Valley. The city is separated by the river Pena, which flows from the Shar mountain.

Although there is evidence of settlements in the area as early as the bronze age, the town is first mentioned under a name resembling its modern name in the 17th century under the toponym Htetovo. The legend is that Tetovo got its name after the legendary hero Teto, who cleared the town from snakes; not surprisingly, Tetovo means Teto's place.

In the middle ages Tetovo was an important trade center for the local farmers and craftsmen, as well as an important military fortification for the Ottomans. In the 19th century, the Russian Consul I. Yastrebov spoke highly of Tetovo's climate - mild snowy winters, sunny and comfortably warm summers. The traveler Ami Bue described Tetovo as a very clean city. Today, Tetovo has a well-developed textile and clothing industry.

The great plant growth conditions of the Polog valley have been well used for the development of agriculture. The well-known ski resort Popova Sapka lies above Tetovo in the Shar Mountain. An 18 km long asphalt road is leading you from Tetovo to Popova Sapka skiing center. While in winter tetovo is a popular destination for the skiing fanatics, in the summer tetovo is the beloved resort for paragliders.

Some of the mosques in the town are date back to the 15th century. The best known among them is the Painted (Aladzha) Mosque on the right bank of the river Pena, known among the locals as Pasha Mosque. In the yard of the mosque there is an octagon-shaped "turbe" (grave) of Hurshida and Mensure, the two women that provided the money for the construction of the mosque in 1459.

In the vicinity of the town is the Arabati Baba Teke, which used to be a sort of Dervish monastery/convent of the Bekteshi Order. The Teke was abandoned in 1945 and today it houses the Museum of Tetovo.

The Monastery of Leshok with the churches of St. Athanasius and of the Holy Virgin, are situated 8 km near Tetovo, close to the road leading to the village of Brezno. The church of the Holy Virgin, an excellent example of the byzantine construction tradition, is believed to have been constructed 1326. The church has three layers of frescoes: the bottom layer is from the time of construction, the middle one is from the 17th century, and the top one is from 1879. Several marble columns from the origina church are kept today in the Tetovo museum. The church of St. Athanasius was built in 1924 next to the church of the Holy Mother of God. In the yard of the Monastery of Leshok is the tomb of the Macedonian educator Kiril Pejchinovik, who was born in 1770. In his honor, this monastery hosts an International Meeting of Literary Translators. Tetovo is also a host to the Festival of Macedonian Choirs.

Tetovo and with its surroundings has a population of 180,654 (1991) and it covers 1 080 km².

Obtained from the Macedonia FAQ website.
A project of Macedonia.org
URL: http://faq.Macedonia.org/

THE CITY OF TETOVO

Fifty kilometers from Skopje, at the foot of the mountain Sar Planina, lies the city of Tetovo. According to the legend the name of the city of Tetovo comes from the word “Hteto”, coming from the name of a hero that killed the dragon which took one young bride each year. According to the historical sources Tetovo is mentioned in the 13^th century in the letter from the Ohrid’s archbishop Homatijan. From the 15^th century till the Balkan wars, Tetovo is mentioned under the name “Kalkandelen”(God’s shield). Until the 14^th century Tetovo was a village settlement, which had a fair a market, big church estates which caused the city to grow into a significant religious center.

In the 15^th century, Tetovo is already mentioned as a city with many shops and workshops and as a result of that people started migrating into the city from all over Polog. During the Austrian-Turkish war, the city weakens economically until the 19^th century when the population growths significantly.

With the appearance of the new people’s education and literature in Macedonia in the first half of the 19^th century, a positive movement upwards is noticeable in the city element in Tetovo. In the second half of the 19^th century the city registers even bigger rise, when it turns into a significant trade and craftsmen center.

Tetovo registers a complete prosperity after the II World War when the conditions to accomplish the ideals from the Ilinden and other rebellions could be put in action.

Today Tetovo is a modern city in which people from all ethnical nationalities, and religions live. Tetovo and its surrounding is an area which has an abundance of huge cultural wealth, which created for centuries managed to include in itself, elements from different cultural influences which crossed on this area in different time periods.

The National Museum of the Tetovo’s surrounding, founded in 1950, is still prevailing in Tetovo. The following departments are working in the Museum:

- the ethnology department

- the archeology department

- the history of arts department

- the history department.

CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES

By the huge researches in the last decades, in Polog and the surrounding, it was determined that , still, this region has more monuments from the sacral architecture, which were not known to the wider scientific public.

Lots of church vestigates talk about the existence of the church in the earliest centuries, which by their dimensions often imply of an organized religious ways in this areas. We could mention: St. Constantine and Helena in the village Vratnica with the dimensions 18,20 x 4,20 with a narthex of 10 meters. Today the church is in ruins. Then the complex of 7 churches in the surrounding of Leshok in the area of the Leshok’s monastery. The newly discovered church from the 6^th century in Tudence with the dimensions 14,50 x 8,20m. One building is distinguished by its size and meaning and that is the basilica in the v. Stenche which is from the 5^th century BC. This church has a christening room in the shape of a cross. There are many documents about the cities which existed in this region, which had big and rich temples as the cities: Polog “ Htetovo”, Gradec, Sobri, Leshok. Will just mention the big and famous monasteries which, unfortunately, do not exist now days like the Modrichi monastery, located between the villages Pirok and Gradec, and many time mentioned in the historical sources Bogorodica (St. Mary) Htetovska, which was located on the course of the river Pena in the surrounding of the city of Tetovo. This monasteries were built in the 11^th and the 13^th century.

In the 14^th century a lot of pictures monasteries were built like: St. Atanasij in the v. Leshok, St. George in Mala Rechica, St. Nikola in the v. Chelopek……

The church St. Nikola in the v. Chelopek was built in the second half of the 14^th century, partly destroyed during the ruling of the Turks, and rebuilt and expanded in the first half of the 19^th century by Ali Pasha Janinski. The church is with one arch, with a 5-sided apsis, with a blind ending dome expanding to the West. The church has a two layer painting from the 14^th and the 19^th century. The painting from the 14^th century is concentrated in the first zone. There are scenes from Christ’s’ celebrations: “The birth of Christ”, “The meeting”, “Climbing down to hell”, “Lazarus’ resurrection”, “Christ before Pilatus”, “The fall of the Golgotha”, and the “Crucifixion”. This style belongs to the late 14^th century of the so called monastic art.

From the time of the ottoman ruling there are the churches St. Nikola in Dolan Leshnica from the 15^th century, St. Archangel in the v. Neproshteno from 1568, fro which we have very little historical data and they only end to a Slavic writing in a fresco technique on the East wall in the altar from which we find out that the founders of the church were Nikola and his brother Rade in the time of the ruling of the metropolitan Gerasimus, St. Nikola from the v. Novake from 1576.

The stylistic analysis of the paintings show that from the end of the 16^th century or the beginning of the 17^th there are the churches St. Ilija in Raotince, and St. Petka in the v. Sirichino. The church St. Bogorodica in Leshok is from the 14^th century, but it was completely rebuilt in 1641 by the metropolitan Nikanor and painted again in the 19^th century.

The main part of the religious monuments in Tetovo and the surrounding are from the beginning of the 19^th and the 20^th century and we can especially mention the following:

- The church St. Petka in the v. Vratnica (1924/25) a big one arched church with an artificial dome. The special attention in this church is aroused by the iconostasis made by the famous Macedonian iconostasis builder D.A. Papradishki. The church St. Nikola in the v. Tearce (1866) a three arched basilica, which owns a remarkable architecture and esthetic qualities in relation to the decorative wood elements. A very rare special appearance distinguishes oneself in the sacral art were ethno elements are painted, the ethno national costumes from this part of the country. The church St. Ilija in the v. Stenche (1867) was painted in 1882 by the icon-painters Petre Novachev and Avram Dichov. This church possesses a monumental iconostasis with icons by Dicho Krstevich-Icon-painter.

The continuity of the Christianity on this regions can be followed from the late 4^th century through the first episcopacy in the v. Stenche, then the Polog’s eparchy from the 14^th century, with the center in v. Leshok from when a lot of episcopical names are mentioned till the 16^th century.

The tradition in this region continues and today with the renewal of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. The residence of the Polog’s-Kumanovo’s eparchy led by the metropolitan Mister Cyril is in the synodal temple St. Cyril and Methodist in Tetovo.

ETHNOLOGY

The orient has a big influence on the cultural past. The basic elements of the traditional costumes in the Tetovo region is their preservation with many archaic and clothing elements, as well as the decoration according to the ethno tradition and customs. The specific and unique nature of he costumes is the embroidery, the frays, the applications, the braids, gimps and the metal filigree and the jewelry. There are 4 types of traditional costumes which can be distinguished in the Polog region at the Macedonian Christian and the Islamic population. Because there is not a distinguished difference between the costumes from Dolni and Gorni Polog they will be described as a costume from the Polog region, accenting the the costumes in Tetovo and the surrounding.

The first type at the Macedonian Christian population joins the 5 villages in the foot of the mountain Suva Gora: Blace, Tenovo, Radiovce, Chelopek, and Miletino. The second type, of the traditional costumes, is wore by the Macedonian Christian population from the regions Podgor and Poselie, where we can notice small differences and marks from village to village. The third type is typical for the villages Stenche and Volkovija in the Dolni Polog, whose uniqueness continues in the Gorni Polog-in the villages in that area.

The Islamic population distinguish 4 types of traditional costumes, a devision which depends on the national affiliation and the place of living.

According to the place of living the costumes are divided on a city and village costumes and according to the nationality on Albanian, Turkish and Romes.

Under the title “city costumes” we distinguish a costume which was worn by the city population without a religious or a nationality distinctions. The above name went under different changes from day to day as in the ornaments of the embroidery and in the content of the look of the costume, where the nationality symbols are related to the religion. The city costumes were worn by the Albanian population which lived in the cities and completely by the Turkish and Rome population, because they almost completely lived in the city. The city costume, with its basic characteristics, is worn by the Macedonian population which was accepted as a fashion trend.

The village costumes was worn by the village population on the mountain Suva Gora. It was made from a cloth, decorated with embroidery with a silk thread and jewelry and it was similar to the other Balkan traditional costumes.

As a final conclusion, we can say that, the traditional costumes are irrevocably loosing its trend and is also changing its characteristics.

The development path of the household depended on the economical and the financial possibilities and the needs of the family. It was different in form, consisting mainly of wooden, earthen, metal, wool and other types of objects. They were made by members of the family, village or city craftsmen.

The wooden subjects were mainly made out of the wood which was in the surrounding. The most often made objects were: spoons, wooden plates, tables, rolling-pins, sieves, chests, milkchurns, barrels and many other objects for every day use. The metal objects had a significant part in the household. The most used metals were: copper (for plates, jugs, pans, cattles, etc), brass (decoration objects) and iron ( irons, knives, chains, tongs, baking tins etc.). A large number of woolen objects were also used in the household, also objects made of hemp and leather. They were objects for covering, bed, and clothing like: woolen home-made wool blankets(jambolija) pillows, bags, horse bags, shoes, carpets etc.

ARCHEOLOGY

For the Polog’s prehistory, there are very little written documents. The best living area was in the foot of the Sar Planina mountain including the side valleys and the field. A large number of archeological findings are buried under this surfaces now days. There are 100 findings identified in Polog, and only a small number has been explored. The oldest settlements from the early stone age are by the village Zelino and Brvenica, which lay on the field by the river Vardar on rise terraces which dominate the surrounding valley.

A big number of pottery, sacrificial objects, grails, figures, ceramic objects for weaving, small flints, sharp blades, burned earth and animal bones. The pottery was made by hand with simple round and cone forms. From the decoration there were impreso and barbotin-technique, and the rare painted objects carry a red smooth coating. All the marks imply that we are talking about the earliest cultural group in this area: Anzabegovo, Madzari, and Vrshnik which is dated in Macedonia between 6000 and 40000 BC.

In the v. Palchishte, by diggings, a lot of objects were discovered like the copper sword which was a Mikena type.

There is no doubt that the most attractive archeological finding in Polog is a built tomb from the late Archay period, discovered in Tetovo. The tomb has a square base, built from large stone blocks, perfectly elaborated, with smooth surfaces and with a dome. Besides the menada, a small pieces from a copper shield were found. The style and the work on the Menada direct to the classical period of 530-430 BC.

From the two excavation in the v. Larce, locality “Breznichko Kale”from 1999 and 2003, nine pitoes were discovered, which date from the 7^th century BC, which proves that a large colony existed in the iron period.

A prehistoric settlement was discovered in the v. Stenche with lot of ceramic figures which belong to different types of plates, one sacrificial altar, and etc.

On the locality Gradishte, the village Stenche, an epyscopial basilica with two baptismal fonts and a fountain was discovered with a reach archeological material.

A Triconhale church from the late 6^th century was discovered in the v. tudence. Parts from the altar partition date from the end of the 6^th century.

MONUMENTS FROM THE OTTOMAN PERIOD

With the coming of the Turks on the Balkan peninsula, a large number of objects from the infrastructure were built like bridges, roads, aqueducts, public objects like public water pipes, clock towers, Turkish baths, inns, resting facilities, and religious objects as mosques, dervish lodges. From the sacral architecture we have the famous Sersem ali dede turbe in the complex of Arabati baba Teke as well as the turbe of the sisters founders of the Sharena Dzamija (The colourfull Mosque).

This objects are from different periods of the Turkish construction. Sharena Dzamija is part of the Turkish baroque. The turbe is from the early Islamic period as well as the Turkish bath. While the famous Arabati Baba teke was built in many phases till the middle of the 19^th century.

Sharena Dzamija (The colorfull Mosque)

Is part of the complex of objects from the Islamic culture as a center of the religious, spiritual and cultural life in the city. It is a religious object-one dome mosque with a polygonal minaret, a water tap, turbe, Turkish bathand the Beg’s living place where the mosque has the central position. Namely, the foundations of the old mosque, which was founded by two single sisters Hurshide and Mensura Hatun (whose tomb is in the yard of the mosque, HG 930/1524). Later by the decision of the Pasha-Abdurahman (HG.1249/1833-34) the mosque is rebuilt and super-structured on the same place. The interior, mihrab, member, kushk are completely geometrically decorated with white marble, while the inside and outside tranzens are decoratively elaborated with floral ornaments.

All the exterior and interior parts of the mosque, without any empty space, is covered with wall decorations in the fresco style from the west baroque style of the Italian and domestic masters-painters and is unique of this type of mosques of the Ottoman architecture. ( this can be seen in the chronogram of the marble plate on the entrance portal ( written in verse by the dervish Mehmet Muradi, 1833-34).

The built dome on the turbe (tomb) was carried on tromps (a unique of this kind in this region) hanging over 8-angled base on the complete base of the object. The dome should be covering the graves of the unmarried sisters-founders of the Sharena Dzamija. The chronogram on the grave of one of the sisters Hurshide Hatun, where the date 930/1524 is entered as the year of death, helps us reach the date of the construction of the tomb and the first construction of the mosque.

Today, the only Turkish bath in Tetovo, is located on the left bank of the river Pena, in the close area of the Sharena Dzamija and the bridge known as the Pasha’s bridge (Pasha koprusu). This Turkish bath is from the type of single baths which in their time served for bathing of both sexes in certain periods of the day.

The Tetovo’s Beg’s Turkish bath (Ïsak-beg which by the powering 1469 inherited Isa-beg or by other data built by Kebir Mehmed chelebi-the brather of Isa-beg”) is frm the 15^th century and it represents a significant and monumental monument of its time.

In the city until 30 years ago, there were 5 bridges with one arch built in stone which are placed over the river Pena in the central city region-built from the 16-18^thcentury. Today there is only one preserved bridge.

Following the examples of other bridges built on the Balkans, on the road Tetovo-Skopje the Zelino’s or the “Kukli beg’s bridge”was built.

It was built from a previously prepared stone and is consisting out of a 4 crossing arch openings and peaks, to direct the pressure of the river. It was built in the first half of the 16^th century. Its founder is Mehmed beg, known as Kukli beg for which it is thought to be a Sandzak beg of the Prizren sandzak and sandzak beg of Skadar. This bridge is one of the most beautiful and oldest bridges in Macedonia.

The complex Arabati Baba Teke is built by Redzep Pasha and his sons: Abdurahma Pasha, and Dzeladin Beg. There are more buildings: The Fatima’s tower, the fountain, the tomb, the water taps and other commercial objects. There is a fresco decoration and carpentry made by famous masters. It is the biggest Teke of this kind on the Balkans.

The evolution of the homes for living is unbreakably connected with the evolution of men. Thanks to the skills of the craftsmen-builders, with a Slavic background, who transferred their knowledge to the next generations, and with the enormous knowledge of the wooden constructions and stone, they developed a personal form enriched with new habits of the city life representing the traditional house.

HISTORY

Through the archeological traces, the life in Tetovo, can be followed backwards to about 7000 years. From the prehistoric time, a lot of settlements are known. The biggest number are remains from the antic era especially the end-the early Byzantine period.

In the period of the late 6^th century in the invasion of the Avaro-slavic tribes a lot of buildings and churches will be destroyed as last bastion of the Roman power in Polog.

Namely, Polog starts to appear in the 11^th century when this area was under the authority of the Byzantine power after the break down of the Samoil’s state. Tetovo, with the name Htetovo, appears in the 13^th and 14^th century when Macedonian is under the ruling of the Serbian kingdom. In that period Htetovo is a big village settlement. In the 15^th century it is already mentioned as a city.

From the period of the Turkish ruling, which begins from 1392 and lasts till the beginning of the 20^th century, there are a lot of artifacts from a material and spiritual culture like fortresses, mosques, Turkish baths, tekes etc. In the recordings of the Turkish historic Katip Chelebi, which date from the 17^th century, Tetovo is found under the name “Kalkandelen”. The achieved economical rise of the Macedonian city and village population in the beginning of the 19^th century had a positive impact on the spiritual superstructure in the social life in the Tetovo area.

From this period i.e. the period of renaissance, is the famous Macedonian writer, poet, translator, librarian, the tetoec Kiril Pejchinovik, born around 1771 in the v. Tearce. As the abbot of the Leshok’s monastery St. Atanasija, he revives it and then formed a monastery library. He left us a numbwr of written works: “Mirror”, Üteshenie greshnim” (A comfort to the sinners) and “The life of the duke Lazar”all written in an understandable Macedonian language used by the people. He will also write the epitaph on a stone tombstone made by his hands.

At the beginning of the 20^th century in the period when VMRO (The Inner Macedonian revolutionary Organization) developed a wide activity as a preparation action for the rebellion against the Ottoman empire, Tetovo and the whole area of Polog took part in the liberation battle as well as the other cities in Macedonia. Tetovo provided the rebels –komiti with guns, Berdan rifles, and Tetovo’s martinka. In the period after the Ilinden appraisal is th period of the beginning of the development of the national conscious with the Macedonians.

The period of the Balkan wars 1912-1913 and the shameful Bucharest contract (August the 10^th 1913) is the most tragic page of the history of the Macedonian people. Macedonian is once again under a foreign authority and this time divided between the three neighboring countries: Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece. In this period Tetovo and its area is under the Serbian authority.

During the I World War Tetovo and its area were occupied by Bulgaria. Then belonging to the Vardarian Macedonia with the other cities fell under the borders of the SHS kingdom later the Kingdom Yugoslavia.

After the occupation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by Hitler’s fascistic regime, the whole West Macedonia and Polog, is occupied by fascistic Italy, and administrative transferred to Albania.

The Macedonian people through the 4 year liberation battle (1941-1945) won a victory and national freedom. The people from Tetovo and its area took part in this battle.

The battles by Belichica and other places entered the history of the Liberation battles of the Macedonian people. Tetovo gave a lot of heroes like Gjoce Stojchevski and Todor Cipovski Merdzan.

Tetovo is proud with the fact that the first Central committee meeting of the KPM with Lazar Kolishevski presiding was formed here on 19.03.1943 in the house of the brothers Jovanovci.

In Tetovo and the area there is a remarkable reach fund of monuments which presents the historic past of this region. According to the Museum’s data of the city of Tetovo and the area there are 4 memorial tablets from the period of the renaissance, 17 memorial tablets from the period of the Liberation battles, 4 monuments from NOB, 2 memorial statues of fallen soldiers from the NOB and 2 memorial houses- memorial museums.