Marko's Monastery is a monastery located in the village of Markova Sušica

Markova Sušica

Markova Sušica is a village in the Studeničani Municipality of Skopje, Macedonia. The village is home to Marko's Monastery....

, 18 kilometres (11.2 mi) from central Skopje

Skopje

Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...

 in the Republic of Macedonia

Republic of Macedonia

Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...

. The monastery bears the name of the Prince Marko

Prince Marko

Marko Mrnjavčević was de jure the Serbian king from 1371 to 1395, while de facto he ruled only over a territory in western Macedonia centered on the town of Prilep...

 who reigned at the time of its completion.

Description

Marko's Monastery contains a single cross-shaped church dedicated to Saint Demetrius. The monastery grounds also consist of lodgings, a belfry, a well, warehouses, a bakery, and a mill. The monastery still operates a special oven used to make rakija.
The church has a narthex, a central dome and a smaller dome on the western side. It was built of bricks and stone. The iconstasis is made of stone pillars.

The fresco

Fresco

Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...

es inside the church were done by a number of painters from the region. The Holy Mother of God, the twelve great feasts

Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church

The feast of the Resurrection of Jesus, called Pascha , is the greatest of the feasts of the Eastern Orthodox Church. In addition, there are other days of great importance in the life of the Church - the Twelve Great Feasts ....

, Jesus Christ, and Saint Nicholas are some of the subjects depicted in the frescoes.

History

Marko's Monastery has been active since its establishment.

Construction of the Church of Saint Demetrius began under King Vukašin

Vukašin Mrnjavcevic

Vukašin Mrnjavčević was a Serbian ruler in modern-day central and northwestern Macedonia, who ruled from 1365 to 1371. According to 17th-century Ragusan historian Mavro Orbin, his father was a minor noble named Mrnjava from Zachlumia, whose sons Vukašin and Uglješa were born in Livno in western...

 in 1346. The church, including the interior paintings, were completed 30 years later. Before Ottoman rule, the monastery had a school and many monks and priests would write manuscripts.

In 1392, Skopje fell under Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 rule, which led to the destruction of many churches and monasteries in the area. Marko's Monastery, however, suffered almost no damage. During the Ottoman era, in 1467/8 the monastery is recorded as having 20 monks. Kiril Pejčinović

Kiril Peychinovich

Kiril Peychinovich or Kiril Pejčinoviḱ was a cleric, writer and enlightener, one of the first supporters of the use of modern Bulgarian in literature , and one of the early figures of the Bulgarian National Revival...

 was the hegumen of Marko's Monastery from 1801 to 1818.

In 1830, Ottoman aristocrat Hamzi Paşa added an exonarthex to the church.