Our homeland is the heart of the Balkans, but throughout history it has been the heart of Europe. This is evidenced by the numerous archeological excavations, but also the natural treasures, of which we should all be proud.
Let us recall some facts about Macedonia that we may have forgotten:
1. Macedonia has the only European ruby deposit.
Many precious stones that you can see in the world catalogs are from Prilep. Foreigners buy the gem at bargain prices. Due to the lack of knowledge and the desire to earn money, in the past, the people of Prilep were lied that it is the mineral corundum (mineral of the lowest class). Rubies in Macedonia exist and can be found in the deposits of dolomitic marbles.
2. The Macedonian mine "Alshar" on the mountain Kozuv is the only deposit in the world of thallium and a potential "mine" of environmentally friendly energy.
Since 2004, the mine has been registered as a natural monument and part of the Emerald's network for the protection of natural rarities.
3. The highest quality opium in the world is Macedonian.
Second in quality is the Pakistani with 7 morphine units, followed by the others with smaller differences. (Colombian for example is about 3.5 ME. Macedonian is 14 morphine units!)
4. The most famous of all Roman roads goes in most of its part through Macedonia, the road - "VIA IGNATION"
5. The Peshna Cave in Makedonski Brod in the New York Times is described as identical to the fictional caves in The Lord of the Rings.
6. In the foundations of the monastery "St. Bogorodica Prechista" (Kichevo region) there is a part of the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified.
There is a part of the cross in the foundations of the monastery "St. Jovan Bigorski" as well as in the monastery "St. George the Victorious" in the village. Rajchica, Debar region.
7. The tomb of the famous Greek Zorba is in the city cemetery in Butel.
Alexis Georgios Zorba, who was the inspiration for the novel "The Greek Zorba", lived in Skopje, had a wife and children, and died in 1942.
8. The father of modern military engineering is considered to be Diad, who in the time of Alexander the Great invented a series of siege machines, including the catapult.
9. Music in Macedonia dates back to the 11th century.
THE BOLOGUE PSALTER was written in Cyrillic in the village of Raven Ohrid, and the Ohrid Museum keeps music letters from 14 musical manuscripts dating from the 10th to the 14th century.
10. The oldest tree in Macedonia - Platanus Orientalis in Ohrid is known as the Plane Tree.
It has been growing since the time of St. Clement of Ohrid - 9th century.
11. In the MOC only in the monastery "St. Gjorgjija Pobedonosec "are made mitres which are of high quality and demanded by the bishops, not only from the Macedonian church, but also beyond.
From 2003 until today, the nuns have made over 150 mitres worn by dignitaries of the Orthodox Churches in America, Africa, Russia, Greece, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro and in other countries, Patriarch of Jerusalem and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
12. The first world gold medal of Macedonian photographers - Manaki Brothers 1905.
Brothers Milton and Janaki Manaki opened a new "Studio for Art Photography" in Bitola and participated in the great world exhibition of photographs in the Romanian city of Sinaia in 1906 where they won first place and a gold medal for their photographic collection.
13. In Skopje, life lasts continuously for at least 7000 - 8000 years.
Evidence is the Neolithic mound in Cair, and in addition to the Neolithic mound in Madzari and the Neolithic settlement on the Skopje Fortress.
14. The first zoo in the Balkans was built in Skopje.
15. The 120 stone dolls in Kuklica near Kratovo are 10 million years old.
16. One of the Titanic survivors is Macedonian.
Stojko Dodolovski from the village of Cucer, Skopska Crna Gora, bought a ticket from a priest at the last moment and boarded the Titanic. When the ship sank, he threw himself into the water and tried to board a lifeboat with gentlemen who did not let him go. He hovered until he found the only one of the crew returning after the survivors. He saved 12 people, including Stojko.
17. According to NASA, Kokino is fourth on the list of the oldest observatories in the world.
The others are Abu Simbel Egypt, Stonehenge Great Britain and Angkor Wat Cambodia. Lesser known is Cocev Kamen near Kokino, 4 million years old, which is more modern than Kokino.
18. Macedonia has 34 mountains, 53 natural and artificial lakes, of which the oldest in Europe - Ohrid is the deepest in the Balkans.
Lake Ohrid is 4 million years old, it has 200 endemic species that are of world importance.
19. Macedonia produces more than 135 million liters of wine annually and 150 million liters of brandy, or 850 million liters of beer.
20. The first railway in the Balkans Solun (Thessaloniki) - Skopje was built in the 19th century.
21. The first woman baptized on European soil is Lydia.
A Macedonian woman from the city of Thyatira who sold red fabrics in nearby Philippi. Exactly the red color became ubiquitous throughout the Macedonian folklore, fabrics, embroidery and the insurgent flags.
22. The Lesnovo Monastery is the first monastic republic in the Balkans.
There existed a literary school - "Lesnovo scriptorum" since the middle of the XI century but also a calligraphic (copying), established in the XIII century. Until the 1940s, the monastery housed the largest library in the Balkans, with a huge collection of books and manuscripts collected from the earliest times and the most remote places, but also books created here in the indigenous Macedonian area.
23. According to archaeologists and geologists in Macedonia, there are traces of life since the Pliocene, ie before the first ice age.
Bones have been found in the vicinity of Negotino that are presumed to belong to an animal 2 to 10 million years old, and the man from Aegean Macedonia is even older than the famous Neanderthal from Germany who is estimated to be 30,000-100,000 years old. The invention of Aegean Macedonia shatters theories about the Neanderthal as the oldest ancestor of man, especially since other recent inventions have shown that he was a creature completely different from man or some kind of human ancestor.
24. The first rock engravings were created in Macedonia 32 million years ago.
According to Emanuel Anati from Italy, director of the World Archive for Rock Art and French academic Jean-Claude, Macedonia is a country with the largest number of this type of rock art in the world. The net engravings that were first discovered in Las Mazil in France, in Macedonia were discovered in Pelagonija, in Slavishko Pole - Kriva Palanka, in the northern part of the Kumanovo region, in the villages Topolovic, Gorno Kratovo and in other parts of our country.
