Gevgelija (Гевгелија) - a city in the southeastern part of Macedonia, located in the Gevgelija-Valandovo Valley, Bojmija district, in the immediate vicinity (3 km) on the border with the municipalities of Kilkis and Meglen in Aegean Macedonia, today in Greece.
Smrdliva Voda is a tourist spot on Kozhuf Mountain, located at an
altitude of 850 m and 24 km from the city of Gevgelija. It is known for
its mineral water and its medicinal properties for stomach ailments, as
well as stomach and kidney ailments. In the wooded areas, 400 holiday
homes and a hotel have been built for the accommodation of guests.
Negorski spas are located 4 km from Gevgelija and represent an
established tourist and recreational center due to the healing mineral
water. Previous tests and experiences confirm that mineral water is
suitable for treating rheumatic diseases, sterility, gastrointestinal
diseases, diseases of the cardiovascular system, inflammation and other
diseases of the peripheral system, as well as of the skin. The spas are
surrounded by a forest and in them there is an opportunity for the
preparation of sports teams from the country and abroad, even in the
winter period due to the mild climate. This complex has 300 beds in
three hotels, a swimming pool, a physical therapy department, as well as
medicinal drinking water.
Ski center Kozhuf is a ski center on
the mountain of the same name, in the immediate vicinity of the town of
Gevgelija. The ski fields of this center extend into two natural
amphitheatres, which are called Markovo Ezero and Porta. Each of the
amphitheatres has 600 hectares, and the total area is somewhere around
1200 hectares. Both amphitheatres extend to the north, which allows for
longer retention of the snow cover. There are three separate ski-trails
for different variants on Markovo Ezero, namely: Tabla, K-92 and Zelen
breg.
Hotel complexes: Gevgelija is called the Macedonian Las Vegas,
because in its vicinity there are a large number of casinos, including
one of the best in the Balkans - "Flamingo Hotel-Casino".
Another
grandiose casino-hotel - Sheraton (Princess) - is currently being built,
which will be several times larger than the Flamingo.
The word Gevgelija probably comes from the
Turkish word gölgeli, which means a place with many shadows.
According to a legend about the origin of the name Gevgelija, it is
considered that a dervish who came and did not want to leave
Gevgelija, because he liked the place very much. The inhabitants did
not want to receive him and decided to persecute him by force.
Enraged by this, the dervish began to angrily curse the frightened
residents and called him back with the words gel-ger meaning "come
back". Although a legend, the people of Gevgelija consider this as
an oath of the ancestors, ie. always welcome those who decide to
pursue their ideas in the city.
Gevgelija as a
city is first mentioned in official Turkish documents from 1664.
Located along many important roads that led from Thessaloniki and
Dojran to Strumica and Skopje, around the 19th century, Gevgelija
marked a significant economic boom. Gevgelija as a city began to
develop in the middle of the XIX century, when the population of
these areas felt the need to create a modern settlement to help
passers-by and to host their travels to the Middle East with
numerous inns. Thus, from 1871 to 1886, the first craft shops were
opened in Gevgelija. Such economic and population growth of the
settlement to get a city physiognomy, ie the registration in the
cadastral books as a city settlement was officially done in 1886,
when in administrative terms it became the center of a special kaza
- Gevgelija.
The Church of the Ascension of Christ dates back
to 1842.
Gevgelija gets a real city image in 1886. In a
referendum held on April 23, 2017, the citizens of the Municipality
of Gevgelija voted against opening mines for metallic raw materials.
This area has always been an important crossroads for travelers and goods traveling from Europe to the Middle East or vice versa. With the construction of the Skopje-Gevgelija-Thessaloniki railway in 1873 and the Skopje-Gevgelija highway, it became an important transit corridor. Gevgelija is located only 70 km from Thessaloniki, and 165 km from Skopje, the capital of R. Macedonia. Exactly because of the important roads, the roads from the north and the south intersect here, so that Gevgelija is a European gate for all those who went north.
Gevgelija is located at 64 meters above sea level and is influenced by the Mediterranean climate, above all, by the Mediterranean climate influence from the Aegean Sea. Kozuf Mountain with its highest peak "Zelen Bey", which is located at 2,167 meters above sea level, is a natural border between the Mediterranean and continental climates. Gevgelija has 240 sunny days a year, with an annual amount of 2,392 hours of sunshine. The average annual temperature is 14.3ºC, the average annual minimum temperature is 8.6ºC, while the average maximum annual temperature is 20.6ºC. The highest maximum temperature was measured in July 2004 and was 44.6 ° C, and the lowest minimum temperature was measured in December 1999 and was -16 ° C. The average annual rainfall is 649 mm / mW. The highest rainfall is in October and November, while the driest are July and August. However, on June 4, 2004 alone, 213 l / mW fell. The average number of days with snow cover is 4, and with fog 7 days. Such climatic conditions allow Mediterranean fruits, such as figs, pomegranates, olives, tangerines and lemons, to grow under this Mediterranean climate. Along the valley of Konska Reka, west of Gevgelija, there is a rare and unique evergreen tree in the Balkans, known as the "naked man" (Arbutus andrachne), whose trunk is covered with reddish and scaly bark.
The
Church of St. Spas is the oldest church in the region, built in the
early 19th century, where people from Thessaloniki even came for the
fair in honor of the patron saint. In 1873, with joint funds, the
people of Gevgelija built the church "Holy Trinity", and on the
place where the chapel was built, in 1895 the church "St. Cyril and
Methodius" was built.
Church "St. Cyril and Methodius"
Church "St. Salvation "
Peter and Paul Church - Catholic Church
Christian Adventist Church - Gevgelija - Adventist Church
Headquarters of the Hierarch's Office Gevgelija of the Povardarie
Diocese of the MOC.
According to Stefan Verković's statistics in 1860, there were 215
houses and approximately 1,200 inhabitants in Gevgelija, and only ten
years later the population increased to 1,610, of which 1,257 were
Christians - Macedonians, 250 Turks and 103 Vlachs. In 1870, Gevgelija
became an important market place for the inhabitants of the Gevgelisko
Pole and Majdačka Visoramnina.
In 1886, Gevgelija was formally
declared a town settlement and administrative center of Gevgelija
district, with a total of 68 settlements. Over 3,000 inhabitants live in
the city. At the end of the main street, which was cobbled and lit with
lanterns, the buildings of the neighborhood and municipal
administration, the military barracks and several two-story houses
sprung up. In 1890, Gevgelija had over 4,000 inhabitants, of which 3,600
were Macedonians, and the rest were Turks, Roma and Circassians.
According to the statistics of Vasil K'nchov ("Macedonia, Ethnography
and Statistics") from 1900, 4,175 inhabitants lived in Gevgelija, of
which 3,000 Macedonians, 650 Turks, 230 Roma, 175 Circassians and 120
Vlachs.
In the first organized census of SFR Yugoslavia in 1948,
there were 31,656 inhabitants in the Gevgelija section, of which 4,967
were in Gevgelija, 1,992 in Valandovo, and 24,697 in the villages
(Bojmija, Vlahomeglen, Dojransko Pole). From an ethnic point of view,
the population consisted of 24,063 (76%) Macedonians, 5,172 (16.3%)
Turks, 773 (2.44%) Serbs, 593 (1.87%) Vlachs, 230 Roma and 825 others.
According to the 2002 census, the city has 15,685 inhabitants.
In 1888, a one-story school building was built in the yard of the
"Holy Trinity" church, where the elementary school is located, which
until then was located in one-story houses. In 1909, a new one-story
school building was built in the courtyard of the "Saint Cyril and
Methodius" church, which houses the elementary school. The first
secondary school was opened in 1902 in the two-story building near the
railway station.
University "Goce Delcev", Stip
USO "Josif
Josifovski"
OU "Vlado Kantarjiev"
OU "Krste Petkov Misirkov"
OMU "Vaso Karajanov"
Librarianship
The beginnings of the library activity in Gevgelija
date back to 1910, when the first reading room named Prosveta was
established in the city. The reading room was established for the needs
of the drama section and had a symbolic book collection brought from
private libraries. In the period between the two world wars, the reading
center did not work regularly. Namely, there were years, especially when
its management was in the hands of sympathizers of the labor movement or
in the hands of the party organizations themselves, when the reading
room was closed. Such was the case in 1924, 1928 and 1938. During the
period of the fascist occupation, the reading room worked occasionally
and was an important place for the spread of advanced ideas. Until 1945,
the reading room worked intermittently, conditioned by the social and
political circumstances of the time. After the liberation of Gevgelija
(November 7, 1944), the People's Liberation Board of Gevgelija made a
decision to establish a city reading room and invited the citizens to
help in collecting books for that purpose. With this action, about 3,000
books were collected, after which a selection was made and in 1945, at
the beginning of February, the city library started its work. In the
beginning, the library was located in the premises of Mitso
Chuguntsaliev, on the promenade, in the central city area, and since
1950 it has been operating in the current building. The building in
which the library is located has been declared a cultural monument.
The Government House was built in 1906, and since 1992 it has been converted into a national museum. It houses several departments from prehistory, the ancient period, as well as an ethnological historical collection.
Christmas happening (January 5)
Poetic and musical event "For you
my love" (March 8)
Theater Day (March)
"Gevgelija musical spring"
(April, May, June)
"Salvation Day" (May)
Pomegranate (May)
Gevgelija Dance (May 29)
The Best for the Best (May)
Folklore
Necklace (June)
Art colonies "Dojrana" (June, July)
Star childhood
(from September to May)
"Gevgelija musical autumn" (September,
October)
Good morning school (September)
Children's Week (October
1-5)
Book Month (October 15 to November 15)
November 7 (Gevgelija
Liberation Day)
New Year's performance (December)
Gevgelija nurtures the sports tradition by promoting popular sports
such as the sports hall in Gevgelija, which is a pleasant and modernly
equipped space for sports. There is also a soccer field near the city
center, and traditionally every year motocross and championships on a
European scale are held.
Karate Club Gevgelija from Gevgelija is
the successor of Karate Club Partizan which started its activities in
1968 in the premises of the physical sports society Partizan from
Gevgelija. Gevgelija Karate Club is the winner of numerous medals at
national and international competitions. the greatest success in the
history of the club was achieved by the women's team from the generation
born in 1989/1990 in the team kata discipline. Namely, this team was a
multiple European champion in the team kata discipline. The team existed
for about 10 years and was led by Alexandra Avramova all the time.
Today, the club has about 30 members, most of whom are medalists at
national and international tournaments. Enrollment of new members is
carried out in parallel with the beginning of the school semester.
Born in Gevgelija
Toma Bayaltsaliev (1870 - 1947), revolutionary
Argir Manasiev (1872 - 1932), revolutionary, duke and head of MRO
Ilia Doctorov (1874 - 1947), revolutionary
Sava Mihailov (1877 -
1905), revolutionary and Duke of MRO
Leonid Yankov (1878 - 1905),
revolutionary and Duke of MRO
Georgi Gerdžiković (1800 - 1911,
Thessaloniki) Macedonian revolutionary, participant in the Macedonian
revolutionary movement, member of the Macedonian Club from Belgrade
Georgios Vafopoulos (1903 - 1996), Greek poet[12]
Milko Mirchev (1906
- 1973), educationalist and archaeologist
Dimitar Zafirovski (1907 -
1973, Skopje), member of ASNOM
Ivan Dojchinov (January 11, 1909 -
January 29, 1992, Skopje) - Macedonian communist, fighter in the Spanish
Civil War and participant in NOV
Kiril Manasiev (June 23, 1909 -
April 18, 1936, Sofia, Bulgaria) - Macedonian revolutionary and
cultural-national actor
Josif Josifovski - Sveshtarot (August 2, 1915
- October 6, 1943, village of Klenoec, Kichevsko) - Macedonian
communist, participant in NOB and national hero.
Jovo Kamberski
(January 11, 1923 - April 25, 1995, Skopje) - Macedonian storyteller and
novelist
Ilija Dzadzev (1926 - 1991, Skopje), Macedonian poet
Vasil Guchev (b. 1930), Macedonian physicist
Georgi Stardelov (b.
1930), esthetician, literary critic, president of MANU
Vasil
Tocinovski (b. 1946), writer, essayist, literary historian and
translator
Nikola Kurkchiev (b. 1954), politician, MP of SDSM
Todor Petrov (b. March 19, 1960), president of the World Macedonian
Congress
Blaže Minovski (1961) - Macedonian storyteller, novelist and
playwright
Jovan Kostov (b. 1982), Macedonian scholar, linguist
Stefan Markovski (b. 1990), writer, poet and philosopher
Alexander
Singer, physician