Category: Other

We inform you that we have started with the implementation of the project entitled: ‘Strengthening the Capacities to Manage the Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid Region: GIS Database Development Training for the Institute and Museum-Ohrid”. https://whc.unesco.org/en/intassistance/3274

The project is implemented by the Institute and Museum-Ohrid and has a total amount of 55 thousand US dollars, and aims to upgrade the knowledge and ability of the professionals in the Institute and Museum – Ohrid in terms of GIS-skills with the help of international experts and in cooperation with experts involved in the development of a GIS platform from our side and from the Albanian side. The project includes various activities, such as: Reviewing the existing documentation and conducting a field inspection of the current state of the cultural heritage based on a list of registered sites of the cultural and archaeological heritage in the Ohrid region and documenting with photos and GPS locating. Digitization of the documentation with a standardized procedure for recording the cultural heritage to be established within the project, which will have to be compatible with the systems already established in our institution with the system of the national electronic register but also with European standards;

The next step will be the cooperation with experts involved in the development of a national GIS platform for archaeological and architectural monuments in Albania and with the with the Regional Directorate of Cultural Heritage, Korce in Albania, in order to strengthen cross-border cooperation for the specific needs of the Ohrid Lake region.

For this purpose, we concluded a memorandum of cooperation with “Cultural Heritage without Borders – Albania” (CHwB Albania), with whom we will jointly conduct training for participants in the “Regional Restoration Camp ” (RRC), organized in both locations consecutively, from September 10 to 22, for Documentation of Historic Places with 21st Century Technology 3D rapid recording using drones & photogrammetry to produce orthophotography and topographic maps for a Geographic Information System of the World Heritage property of the Orhid Region Albania/Northern Macedonia.

You can find an application for participating in the camp in the following link:

(https://www.facebook.com/CHwBAlbania/posts/pfbid0oBsvmZSESgwhjr71tKVrsULjtir5ZcngxM2ZqDCMiwijdWN4pbyenHfYRYnpiVYYl).

14. 12. 2019 – 15. 12. 2019

---

A working action called ”Don’t be rubbish” was carried out by the employees of the NI Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments and Museum-Ohrid on December 14th, 2019.

23. 11. 2019

---

The Minister of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China, Luo Shugang and the Minister of Culture of the Republic of North Macedonia, Hysni Ismaili, visited Ohrid on November 23, 2019.  Minister Shugang heads the Chinese delegation to the Fourth Ministerial Forum for Cultural Cooperation between China and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, which is hosted by our country.

 During the visit to Ohrid, the two ministers and the high Chinese delegation, accompanied by the hosts from our institution, visited some of the cultural monuments and museum exhibits that are being cared for by the NI Institute and Museum-Ohrid. They reviewed the permanent display in the world-famous Icon Gallery, the churches of the Holy Mother of God Peribleptos and St. Sophia, the archaeological site Plaosnhik and the archaeological and ethnological exhibitions at the Robev family house. While visiting the old part of Ohrid, Minister Shugang had the opportunity to get acquainted with the rich cultural heritage of our city, expressing great interest in it and expressing satisfaction with its condition, presentation and care for it.  During the visit, the delegation took a stroll through the Old Ohrid Bazaar, and also visited the handmade paper workshop, where the process of making the paper was demonstrated, as well as the method of making the unique Ohrid pearl while visiting one of the shops of the Filev family.

04. 10. 2019

---

During the official visit to our country on 04. 10. 2019, the Secretary of State of the United States of America, Mr. Mike Pompeo, together with his wife, Mrs. Susan Pompeo, was in Ohrid. The Secretary of State and his entourage, which included the former ambassador to our country and now the US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe  andEurasia, Philip Reeker, US Ambassador to Skopje Kate Marie Burns, and advisers Mary Kisel and Ricky Waddell, visited the Icon Gallery within the NI Institute and Museum – Ohrid. They were visibly amazed by the splendor and beauty of the Ohrid collection of icons, expressing great interest about their value and significance.

Manuscripts from IX and X century, which are part of the collection of the NI Institute and Museum-Ohrid, were also temporarily exhibited in the Icon Gallery especially for this occasion and presented to the high guests from theUnited States.

In addition to the Icon Gallery, the guests from the United States also visited the church of the Holy Mother of God Peribleptos from 1295, which is one of the most significant Christian shrines and masterpieces of Byzantine architecture and wall painting.

The conservation of architecture and fresco-paintings of this church, as an important church and cultural heritage site, was implemented as part of a project that ran from 2009 to 2016, with funds of $ 650.000, provided through USAID’s programs and the Special Ambassadors Fund for the Protection of Civilizational Artifacts of Cultural and Historical Heritage.

13. 07. 2017

---

Today, the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Robert Alagjozovski, accompanied by the head of his office Todorce Tasevski and the adviser Petrit Sarachini, had the first official visit of the NI Institute and Museum-Ohrid.

They had a brief working meeting with the director Tanja Paskali-Buntasheska, that was spent in a pleasant atmosphere with presentation of the current projects of our institution, but also the overall work in the past period, as well as certain problems that we face in our day-to-day operations.

After the meeting, the Minister, with his escort, made a tour of the working premises and depots in the administrative building “Radnichka”, where he met the employees and had an opportunity to get acquainted directly with several different segments of the overall work of the NI Institute and Museum-Ohrid, in particular from the field of ​​protection and museology, as the core activities of our institution.

At the end of his stay, the Minister and his associates, accompanied by the director Tanja Paskali-Buntasheska, visited the Icon Gallery and the church of the Mother of God Periblepos and expressed satisfaction with the way of preservation, securing and displaying the valuable icons and the overall condition of the Gallery, as well as the condition of the church after comprehensive conservation (architecture and fresco painting), carried out in the past two years.

Visit of the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Robert Alagjozovski to the NI Institute for Protection Monuments of Culture and Museum-Ohrid

 09. 04. 2017 – 14. 04. 2017

---

From 9 to 14 April 2017 a reactive monitoring mission UNESCO/ ICOMOS / IUCN stayed in our country to inspect the implemented activities and to assess how their recommendations on the scope of construction activities and their impact on the environment and cultural heritage if the world heritage site “Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid Region” are obeyed.

Mission members: Ms. Anna Sidorenko, representative of the World Heritage Center of UNESCO, Ms. Maja Vasiljevic of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature, an advisory body of UNESCO) and Mr. Pierre-Marie Tricaud, representative of ICOMOS (International Council of Monuments and Sites, an advisory body of UNESCO) today had a working meeting in NI Institute for protection of monuments of Culture and Museum- Ohrid. According to Ms. Sidorenko, the goal of the meeting was to obtain information and to review efforts, projects and progress in their implementation by the central and local government in the protection of cultural heritage and implementation of remarks by UNESCO from the 40th session held in Istanbul last year. After the monitoring by the mission, as well as meetings and consultations that follow, they will present their further guidance and recommendations.

Visit of the reactive monitoring mission of UNESCO/ICOMOS/IUCN

04. 04. 2017 – 05. 04. 2017

---

Forum of Slavic Cultures (FSK) is a nonprofit organization founded in 2004 in Ljubljana. The initiative team of experts of the member countries of the Forum (Belarus, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Czech Republic, Croatia, Macedonia, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Slovakia and Serbia) in 2012 established the award “Zhiva” and the competition is in six categories.

With their participation, the member states of FSK promote outstanding achievements in the field of cultural values ​​emphasizing at this the significant cultural heritage of Slavic countries. The “Zhiva” award itself is called according to the Slavic goddess of fertility, whose main attribute is grain, so the appearance of this special award is inspired from the classes of wheat.

This year the awards will be held at Bled in Slovenia, from 20 to 24 September and our institution is the only nominee of our country among more than 20 museums from 13 countries.

These days (4-5 April) judges Biljana Brajovic from Montenegro and Katja Dzhumalieva from Bulgaria came to Ohrid to inspect and assess the capacity values, meaning, richness and diversity of our museum collections and in general the overall activity of NI Institute and museum-Ohrid in the field of preservation, documentation, protection and conservation and, of course, the presentation of the huge fund of cultural heritage entrusted to us for preservation for future generations. The photos are from today’s visit to the Museum on Water in the Gulf of Bones, only one of its kind in the Balkans and in the wider region in general. According to the reactions and unabashed admiration of the judges, we are really a serious candidate for one of the prizes, keep your fingers crossed for us!

Visit of the judges for the “Zhiva” award