Пештерска Црква Св Богородица

Cave Church Holy Mother - Holy Virgin Of Pestani Cave Church

Useful Information

Location:	Р501, North Macedonia. Pestani, 20 km from Orid. Eastern shore of lake Orid, right side of the road Orid-Saint Naum. (41.000400, 20.802950)
Open:
Fee:
Classification:	Karst Cave Cave Church
Light:	bring torch
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1360s

frescoes painted.

Description

The Пештерска Црква Св Богородица (Pešterska Crkva Sv Bogorodica, Cave Church of the Holy Virgin) is dedicated to the Mother of God and is located in the campground Gradište. The site is also known as Заливот на коските (Bay of Bones), a museum of an underwater archaeological site. The spectacular museum is a reconstruction of a Neolithic village which was built on wooden pillars into the lake. This allowed the inhabitants to easily handle their boats and go fishing, and it was a protection from wild animals and evil people. The museum is bordered to the north by the Градиште (Gradishte) Campground, and a hill protruding into Lake Ohrid, which was once used by the Romans to build a fortified city on top. The Римска тврдина „Градиште“ (Roman fortress "Gradiste") ruins can be visited without restrictions. At the northern side of this hill the gravel beach starts again, the Плажа „Градиште“ (Gradishte Beach) beach belongs to the campground and is frequented by the campers. But in the middle of this beach, there is a small cave which is closed by a wall with a door. This is the small cave church, or better cave chapel, dedicated to the Holy Virgin, Maria, the Mother of God. The beach is known as Плажа Градиште 3 (Beach Gradishte 3) or Jungle beach, a small car park at P1301/P501 road with half a dozen spaces is connected by a long footpath with many concrete steps to the beach. The cave is actually marked on Google Maps as Cave Church Of Theotokos Of Peštani, though for some reason it is only shown if you zoom in on the right place.

So why have we listed this rather weird and hard to reach site? This church has frescoes, which are in a rather poor state, some are destroyed by the humidity, some were destroyed by hacking out the faces of the Saints. But despite all this, they are the largest preserved ensemble in a cave church on the shore of Lake Ohrid. Some areas of bulbous natural cave ceiling were flattened with mortar fillings, which were then used to paint frescoes. But the natural cave wall was also used for wall paintings, even some uneven surfaces. The painting is the apse behind the altar was unfortunately destroyed, in the top register of the conch there once was the Ascension of Christ, but only fragments are still visible. The nave contains a picture of the Deesis and St. Nicholas the miracle worker. The so-called holy warriors are Demetrius, Nestor, Artemius, Neketa, Theodor Tyro, Theodore Stratilates, Mena and Procopius. Above them, the holy healers Cosma and Damianos, St. Clement of Ohrid, St. Anthonius, and St. Ephtimius can be seen. Its quite interesting that some of the Saints are well known internationally, some seem specific for the Eastern church, and others are only of local fame. The Annunciation, the Nativity, the Presentation in the Temple, and the Baptism are shown in a sequence. The Raising of Lazarus and the Entry into Jerusalem are shown on the south side. Crucifixion and the Myrophores at Christ’s tomb are shown on the west side, above the Transfiguration of Christ and the Dormition of the Holy Virgin.

Such frescoes in churches were always a sort of bible-comic. With an illiterate population, and as a second line of defence the bible written in Latin, normal people were not able to read the bible themselves. The priest told them the stories, and he used the pictures to make them more realistic. The frescoes are form the 14th century and were painted by the same painters which created numerous frescoes in the city Ohrid around 1360. The artists also worked in Marko’s monastery, and they were close to the well known Ohrid painter Jovan Theorian. You can see similar frescoes in the Grigoria gallery in the cathedral church of St. Sophia in Ohrid.

It's tricky to find, but the biggest difficulty in visiting this cave church is probably to obtain the key. We were not able to determine when it is actually open and if it is accessible like other churches. It is definitely still used as a church, but if you want to visit it, you should probably book a cave church tour. Those tours are offered by various operators and there are one day as well as two day tours. The 2-day-tour visits five cave churches per day, all located along the shores of Lake Ohrid.