Church of St. John the Evangelist

Built and decorated towards the end of the end of 13th century, the donor of the church and the painter of its frescoes are unknown. The church's architecture is of great relevance to a study of Ohrid's mediaeval monuments as it is a highly successful combination of Byzantine and Armenian elements.

Church of St. John 

Church of St. John 

Church of St. John 

St. John's at night 

Cathedral Church of St. Sophia

The archaeological excavations of the cathedral church of St.Sophia which is situated at the foot of the hilly part of Ohrid and close to the Lake, show that it was built on the foundations of an Early Christian basilica.

The church was reconstructed and decorated with frescoes at the time of Archbishop Leo, 1037 – 56.A unique gallery of paintings, relief and architecture created in the course of four decades, from the 11th to the 14th centuries, St. Sophia’s church is one of the most important mediaeval monuments in Ohrid and indeed in the whole of Macedonia.

Together with the cathedral church St. Sophia in Kiev, in the Ukraine, it contains the larger number of frescoes from the 11th century in the mediaeval art of Europe.

After visiting St. John's, Jerry and I made our way through narrow little streets back down towards the city center. From a distance we could see another old and larger building and per the map, we believed it to be St. Sophia's church. We met some older folks as we walked down, Serbian couple in their 50's. The old man told me in Serbian, "Sveti Sophia, prima!" Translated it meant, "St. Sophia, the first!" It is the first known Christian church in the area, dated to the first century, BC.

We came to the church from the back, by-passing the tourist area. You can see the building is roughly 3 stories tall. We entered on the first floor and found the cieling to be high and arched enough to account for the middle floor. There was a door inside the covered area with an ancient fresco painted above it. On the floor were marble remnents from the archeological dig at the classical theatre.

As I was setting up the camera, Jerry inspected the area and discovered holes in the rock ceiling. Through the holes and painted on the side walls of the hidden second floor were more fresco. I felt like we had "discovered" the paintings hidden for centuries.

St. Sophia 

St. Sophia 

St. Sophia 

As I set up the camera, Jerry walks around checking the place out. There were some oddities that did not match the other places we visited, the columns for one thing. They were clearly Greek architecture. Then there was the marble scupture/stone near one of the old doorways. It depicted a minotor type creature locked in battle with a human. Everything about this building was older than old.

Jerry spotted a fresco painted above one of the old doors, I got a shot of it.

St. Sophia 

St. Sophia 

St. Sophia, fresco above the door 

St Sophia Fresco 

The interior of the area had a high, arched ceiling. The arch of it accounted for the second floor. I was trying to get more shots of the old doors and some of the graffiti when he called me over to look at a hole in the ceiling.
While the ceiling was arched, the walls were not. And on the vertical interior wall that could be seen through the hole there was another fresco. It depicted God(?) resting his hand on a man, (a saint?) who's arms were bound behind his back and appears to be dead. The hole was covered in a crude iron grate, presumably to protect the fresco. There were other holes in the ceiling, also exposing hidden frescos, but the light would not allow me to get shots of them

St. Sophia 

St. Sophia 

St. Sophia 

St Sophia 

Courtyard 

We made our way around front of the church, Jerry was pushing to see one last place on his list of sights to see. It was at this point I had to tell him I needed to stop,...it was all just too much. Everything was so old by comparison to our history. Sophia's was indeed "Prima", built in the 1st century, AD. I had spent too much time trying to imagine people who, for literally thousands of years, came to these places. I imagined the last hours of battle at Samuel's Fortress, watching the horde swarming around to the lakeside. Trying to imagine that 15,000 soldiers were captured there. That all but 1500 of them were blinded with knives. That the 1500 were blinded with knives in only one eye, so they could lead the others away. The lives, the miracles, the faith, the baptisms, the funerals, the marriages of 2000 years worth of humanity took place on that ground and it all seemed to rush through my mind at once. I needed a break. I couldn't take any more pictures.

~Dave