Berovo - a city in the eastern part of the Republic of Macedonia, which is located on the slopes of the Maleshevo Mountains, whose municipal boundaries cover an area of 598 km2. Near it is Berovo Lake. Berovo is located 161 km from Skopje, 47 km from Strumica and 52 km from Kocani.
There are two versions of how Berovo got its name.
According to the first, it got its name from the name of a
cattle breeder Bero. An argument for this is the existence of the
so-called Berovo meadow, in the area between the villages Machevo
and Robovo, which is considered to belong to this cattle breeder.
According to the second version, which is more probable, the
name Berovo came from the fact that people gathered at that place.
The question arises where the population came from. From the old
settlements in the locality of Turtela, Selca, Ribnica, Razdolo,
Klepalo, Dobri Laki and others, and later from the other Maleshevo
villages.
Geographical features
Berovo is located in the
eastern part of Macedonia in the area of Maleshevo, ie the
Maleshevo Valley at 846 meters above sea level. A wealth of beech,
pine, oak forests was determined by its name "malesh - mountain".
The municipal center Berovo and the rural settlements are located on
the outskirts of the valley. Near Berovo is the artificial Berovo
Lake, which due to its untouched nature and clean air is a favorable
place for tourism development and several tourist facilities have
been built around the lake.
In the Ottoman tax
registers of the non-Muslim population from the province of
Malesheva from 1621-1622 is recorded the village of Berova, which
together with the Jewish neighborhoods had a total of 55 households.
In 1830 a cell school was opened in Berovo, where Petar Klisarov
from Stip taught.
In the village of Razlovci near Berovo, in
1876 the famous Razlovech Uprising was led by the legendary
Macedonian revolutionary from this area Dimitar Pop-Georgiev
Berovski who was born in the town of Berovo.
Air conditioning
Berovo, which is part of the Maleshevo Valley, has a
temperate-continental climate with climate modification in the high
mountainous and lowland parts.
Berovo has significantly lower
average annual air temperature from the areas at the same altitude
in the wider part of this valley. At an altitude of 800 m, the
average annual temperature is 11.1 ° C, and in Berovo 8.7 ° C. The
coldest month is January with an average temperature of -10 ° C, and
the warmest month is July, with an average temperature of + 18 ° C.
The average annual minimum temperature is 2.8 ° C and the average
maximum temperature is 15.3 ° C. The most precipitation is in May
and June, as well as in November, and the driest months are August
and September. The average annual rainfall is 672 mm / m3. The main
maximum falls in May, averaging around 76.8 mm / m3, and the
secondary maximum in November -64.3 mm / m3. The main minimum is in
August, with an average of 37.6 mm / m3, and the secondary in
February. The number of rainy days per year is 118. In the average
annual amount of rainfall, the snow occupies about 15% and occurs
from October to May. On average, there are 42.2 days a year under
snow cover.
Relative humidity decreases from January to
August, then increases from December, and the average humidity is
76%. The average annual duration of solar radiation is 2,347 hours
or 6.4 hours per day, with a maximum in July of 10.2 hours per day,
and a minimum in December of 3 hours per day. In the Berovo Valley
fog is rare, there is only 8.4 foggy days. The appearance of hail is
rare, on average 2.9 days occur with hail. Frostbite is less
frequent and occurs 70 days a year, from September to May. Winds
from all 8 world directions occur in the Berovo Valley, but the
northern one prevails, with a frequency of 147% and a speed of 2.4 m
/ sec., Which is most present in January, February and March.
Churches
Berovo has four churches, two chapel churches plus
one church in the locality of Turtela, where the nuns from the
monastery "St. Archangel Michael" owned monastery property, where
they kept goods, and in the church they performed worship or prayer
rites. The Berovo Monastery of St. Archangel Michael and the nunnery
played a major role in the spirituality, enlightenment and
liberating ideas of the people in Maleshevo. The oldest of the four
churches is the monastery, which is located in the complex "St.
Archangel Michael". Then, in the extreme upper part of the city is
the church "Holy Mother of God", and in the center there is also a
beautiful church named "Holy Mother of God". In the very northern
part of the city, near the city cemetery is the church "St. Todor",
and the two chapel churches are also located in the extreme
southeastern part of Berovo, "St. George" and "St. Bogorodica". All
churches were built in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The most
arranged in the inner part is the church in the monastery complex
"St. Archangel Michael". The iconostasis were made by the famous
woodcutters Acko Arnautov, Atanas Sokolov and Kosta Pavlov. The
icons are the work of the far famous painter from Berovo Gavril
Atanasov, who studied the craft in Mount Athos. In 2013, the
cornerstone of the church "St. Gavril Lesnovski ".
Monastery
of St. Archangel (nunnery)
The monastery "St. Archangel" located
in Berovo is the only monastery in our country where monastic life
has been going on continuously for 153 years, just as old as the
lodgings. The monastery is for women, and the monasticism was
started by sister Evgenija in 1848. A legend is told in Berovo about
the construction of the church "St. Bogorodica" and the beginnings
of the sisterhood in the monastery, which even the church says is a
real event.
Monastery of the Assumption of the Most Holy
Mother of God (male monastery)
In this place there was a church
dedicated to the Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of God which was
restored and adapted for monastic life, and thus was transformed
into a Monastery. In 2002, a three-member fraternity moved here from
the Vodoчкиотa Monastery with the blessing of Bishop Nahum. Thus,
for the first time in Berovo, the beginnings of male monasticism
were set. The site itself has a special meaning for the people of
Berovo, as a place of worship and prayerful respect for the Most
Holy Mother of God.
Archaeological sites
Birch - a
settlement from late antiquity;
Peaks - necropolis - tumuli from
the Iron Age;
Gradishte - settlement and necropolis from late
antiquity;
Dolno Gradishte-Jablanica - a settlement from Roman
times;
Kelaklevec - a settlement from late antiquity;
Kovacilnica - a fortified settlement from the Iron and Late
Antiquity and the Middle Ages;
The house - a settlement from
Roman times;
Linako - a settlement from late antiquity;
Pashailov Preslap - a settlement from late antiquity;
Popov Reed
- a site from late antiquity;
Saint Archangel Michael - medieval
pits;
Selca - a settlement from Roman times;
Shabano Gradishte
- a town from the late antique time; and
Shirok Dol - mounds from
late antiquity.