Its current residents, who have the privilege to live in this clean environment rich in cultural values, jealously guard and cherish the long tradition and have always unselfishly shared their rich cultural heritage with numerous tourists from all over the world.

Only in the wider region of Ohrid there are over 250 archaeological sites from the Neolithic period through Antiquity until the late Middle Ages, then, more than 50 churches and monasteries, from 5th to 19th century, forts with walls long over 3,000 meters, approximately 60 buildings of the old city architecture and more than 2.500m2 medieval frescoes and around 1.000m2 floor mosaics.

The movable cultural heritage is represented by more than 2,000 icons from the period from the 11th to 19th century, 119 Greek and Slavic manuscripts written on parchment and paper, 39 Glagolitic epigraphic monuments, about 1,500 rare and old printed books, and thousands of other museum objects-archaeological, numismatic, ethnological, historical documents and works of contemporary art.

Due to the outstanding universal natural, cultural and historical values that are seen in the synthesis of the primal nature and ancient built heritage, long known and recognized in the world, the lake and the town Ohrid with all their cultural heritage have been placed on the World Heritage List of UNESCO.

First, in 1979, the World Heritage Committee decided to put Ohrid Lake. i.e. the part that belongs to Macedonia (then part of Yugoslavia) in the World Heritage List under natural criteria (III).

Next, in 1980, the Committee decided to extend the protected area of the city including the cultural and historical values, according to cultural criteria (I), (III) and (IV), under the name “Ohrid region with its cultural and historical aspects and its natural surroundings”. At the request of the Republic of Macedonia, on the thirtieth session of the World Heritage Committee in 2006, the name of the protected area of the city was changed to: “Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid region”.