Berovo

 

Berovo (Берово) - 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.

 

Etymology

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.

 

History

In the Ottoman tax registers of the non-Muslim population of the Malesheva vilayet from 1621-1622, the village of Berova was recorded, which together with the Jewish neighborhood had a total of 55 households. In 1830, a cell school was opened in Berovo, where Petar Klisarov from Shtip taught.

In the village of Razlovci near Berovo, in 1876, the famous Razlovci Uprising took place, led by the legendary Macedonian revolutionary from this area, Dimitar Pop-Georgiev Berovski, who was born in the town of Berovo.

 

Climate

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.

 

Culture

Museum of the city of Berovo
This building, to which the residents of Berov are sentimentally attached, because it is one of the recognizable elements of the city. it was built at the end of the 19th century, so until the eighties of the last century it had a different purpose, always connected to a part of the city's administrative functions - school, court, library. Unfortunately, after that, it was left to the teeth of time, which turned it into an unpleasant sight in the very center of Berovo, a dangerous zone for pedestrians due to falling elements, and it was only a matter of time before the building collapsed. But in cooperation with the non-governmental organizations Ambrosia and Berani, funds were first secured for reconstruction through the World Bank project "Development of Municipalities and Culture". Now the building has all the attributes that a museum deserves

The House of Culture "Dimitar Berovski"
The House of Culture "Dimitar Berovski" is the only institution in the field of culture and the main driver of all developments in the field of cultural and entertainment life in the municipality of Berovo. After the liberation in 1946, "Workers' University" and "National Library" were established in Berovo for the needs that arose. Evening schools were organized for the literacy of the population, various courses for the needs of labor organizations, lectures and tribunes were held on socio-political relations and developments in the country.

Through the workers' university, which was named "Mosha Pijade", there were folklore groups and individuals who, on the occasion of important public holidays, performed in Berovo and the populated areas in the municipality, and quite rarely outside in other cities in Macedonia. Later, the first cinema was opened in Berovo as part of the Workers' University "Mosha Piade". "Malesh" cinema as it was named first started working in the old Sokolana hall as it was called before the war, then renamed "Partizan".

In 1953, a cinema hall was built with voluntary work, which still exists today, and in which, in addition to rare cinema performances, concerts, theater performances and other similar events are held.

At the end of the sixties, the first public broadcasting station in the municipality "Radio Berovo" was opened, which operated as part of the House until the end of the seventies, when it separated and operated as an independent legal entity.

 

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.

 

Population

According to the statistics of Vasil K'nchov ("Macedonia, Ethnography and Statistics") from 1900, 2,940 inhabitants lived in Berovo, of which 2,300 Macedonian Christians, 600 Macedonian Muslims and 40 Roma.

In the first organized census of SFR Yugoslavia in 1948, there were 18,144 inhabitants in the Berovo region, of which 3,619 in the city of Berovo, 1,687 in Pehcevo, and 12,838 in the villages of the Maleševija area. From an ethnic point of view, the population consisted of 17,538 (96.6%) Macedonians, 313 (1.72%) Roma, 152 Serbs, 81 Turks and 60 others.

According to the 2002 population census, the city had 7,002 inhabitants and belonged to the group of small cities.

 

Economy

The population in the city and the entire Maleševo district is mostly engaged in agriculture. Due to the specificity of the land in Maleševija, mostly potatoes are grown, for which Berovo is widely known. Berovo is also known for Berovo white cheese. The plan for the construction of a border crossing to Bulgaria, which would connect Berovo with Sandanski, would significantly improve the economy of the entire region.

 

Infrastructure

The city of Berovo is located in the eastern part of the Republic of Macedonia and is connected to the country's traffic system only by road network systems and intercity passenger traffic. The municipality of Berovo is connected to two regional road routes towards the interior of the Republic of Macedonia, with:

R-527-Kočani-Vinica-Berovo-Klepalo (border crossing) and
R-523-Delcevo-Pehchevo-Berovo-Strumica and
R-524-Berovo-Klepalo (border of the Republic of Bulgaria), which is not active due to the incompleteness of the structure by the Republic of Bulgaria, but has approved funds from the European Union and since October 2005, construction has begun.
R-603-Berovo-Podaresh-Radovis is in the form of design. All rural settlements of the municipality are connected to the city of Berovo by asphalted local roads. Local roads have a total length of 26.4 km and 109.94 ha, of which 14% are unpaved dirt roads. Of the city streets, 27.94 km are paved and cover an area of 175.8 m2.

The main street network of the city of Berovo consists of st. "Marshal Tito", which stretches in the eastern part of the city and runs along its entire length and is part of the regional road route R-524 Berovo-Klepalo; "Novoprojektirana" street is the bypass road located northwest of the city and is part of the regional road direction R-523 Delchevo, Pehchevo, Berovo, Strumica; "Boris Kidrich" street; "Goce Delchev" street; "Partizanska" street; "23rd August" street and "Ilindenska" street. Local transport between Berovo and surrounding settlements is carried out by public bus transport, taxi transport and bicycles or motorbikes. The intercity bus station is located in the city center. Berovo is connected to other cities in the country and beyond through intercity bus transportation. With the opening of the border crossing to the Republic of Bulgaria, the frequency of buses and passengers is expected to increase

 

Personalities

Born in Berovo
Grandfather Iljo Maleshevski (1805 - 1898), Macedonian ajdut and revolutionary
Dimitar Pop Georgiev Berovski (1840 - 1907), Macedonian revolutionary
Nikola Maleshevski (1852 - 1935), Macedonian revolutionary
Atanas Razdolov (1872 - 1931), Macedonian revolutionary and poet
Dimitar Acev (1893 - 1923), Macedonian communist
Konstantin Pop Georgiev, Macedonian revolutionary
Marija Pop Georgieva, Macedonian ajdutka, sister of Dedo Iljo Maleshevski
Nikica Klincarski (1957 - 20??), former player of Partizan and the Yugoslav national football team
Nikola Pehchevski (1976 - 2001), Macedonian defender

Died in Berovo
Aco Karamanov (1927 - 1944), a partisan died near the place called Prevalec