Mariovo

Mariovo (Macedonian: Мариово) is a historic region in the southern part of North Macedonia,[1] with an area of 1,390 square km and an elevation 1,050 m, situated among mountains.

The river Crna flows across the whole area of Mariovo, creating the largest canyon in North Macedonia which is around 100 km long.

On the south-east the basin of the river Crna enables Mediterranean influences from Aegean Sea, while in the area of Skočivir Ravine the moderate continental clime makes its way from the Pelagonian plains.

A 65,500 ha tract, encompassing arable land, forest, shrubland and woodland, has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports populations of rock partridges, Egyptian vultures, short-toed snake-eagles, golden eagles, lesser kestrels, lanner falcons, eastern subalpine warblers, western rock nuthatches, eastern black-eared wheatears and black-headed buntings.

[2] More people lived there, but due to migration there are fewer than 1,000 inhabitants left in the 28 settlements: Vitolište, Bešište, Veprčani, Vrpsko, Dunje, Živovo, Kalen, Kokre, Kruševica, Manastir, Polčište, Peštani, Čanište, Brnik, Budimirci, Gradešnica, Gruništa, Zovič, Iveni, Makovo, Orle, Rapeš, Staravina, Ržanovo, Rožden, Galište, Klinovo and Majden.

There also used to be a town in the vicinity, which the villagers consider to be the birthplace of King Philip because historical dates claim that he descended from the mountains and built Pela.

[1] Alšar, an ancient mine located in the southern Balkans, in North Macedonia, is said to contain minerals that are found nowhere else on the planet.

By serving as a geochemical detector of the neuron, the lorandite could validate or disprove the theory of the standard solar system.

The Ottomans, who ruled the peninsula until the beginning of the 20th century, called it Majdan (the word for "mine" in Turkish).

The lorandite from the mine can register in a chemical and physical way the so-called neutrino flux coming from the Sun and it is the only known substance that has this power.

Despite all the mystery, the fact is undisputed that Alšar is the only known place on the planet that contains the lorandite, a mineral of potentially huge significance in physics.

One can start this unique experience from three places: It is now situated in an inaccessible area, but in the past the monastery rose high above the canyon of the river Crna, on the foothills of Višešnica.

At the beginning of 19th century the lodgings on the eastern and on the southern side were built, the bell tower and several other buildings of practical character.

Southeast from the monastery, on the hill which rises over the river is the small church of the Holy Saviour, probably built in the 14th century.