Nerezi – St. Panteleimon (Pantelejmon)


Saint Panteleimon – Свети Пантелејмон (Sveti Pantelejmon)  near Gorno Nerezi (Горно Нерези)

The Monastery of St. Panteleimon is located in the village of Gorno Nerezi on Mount Vodno and overlooks the city of Skopje.  The church was built by the Byzantine prince Alexei Angel son of Constantine Angel and Theodora, daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus, Алексеј I Комнин (1081-1118). An inscription on marble between the narthex and the nave of the church reveals the church was constructed in the year 1164.

This church was renovated in the 16th century.  There was another attempted restoration in 1885 and in 1923 some of the original 12th-century frescoes were restored. The original 1164 frescoes were covered during the 16th century renovation and then covered again in the 19th century.  Due to a conservation effort in the 1950s, the later frescoes were removed and the 1164 frescoes were preserved.  Adjacent to this church is a very good restaurant that often hosts wedding parties.  Here we attended the wedding celebration of our good friend Bojan Stoševski.

The church’s decorative stucco arch is depicted on the obverse (front) side of the Macedonian 50 denar banknote issued in 1996.

50 MKD Front Cropped 50 per

 

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About Brko

I am a Macedonia enthusiast and an adventurer. I really enjoy being immersed in the Macedonian culture, meeting people from all over Makedonija and sharing their traditions and cultural heritage.