Kavadarci (Кавадарци) - a city in the southeastern part of the Povardarie, in southern Macedonia and is the center of Tikvesh. According to some sources, etymologically, the name Kavadarci comes from the Greek word kavadion which means "cloak of precious fabric", and the people of Kavadarci were the makers of that fabric.
The city is located in the central part of the valley and the Tikvesh area and is its central place. It is 10 km west of the nearest town Negotino, 105 km south of the capital Skopje, and west through the Drenovska Gorge and the Pletvar pass is connected to Prilep (51 km), which continues to Bitola, Resen and Ohrid. The city of Kavadarci is located on both banks of the river Luda Mara, in a north-south direction, and is a flat settlement located at an altitude of 278 meters.
The city contains ten boulevards: West Boulevard, North Boulevard, Mosha Pijade, Cvetan Dimov, Veljko Vlahovic, Macedonia, Nikola Minchev, Blazo Aleksov, Video Smilevski - Bato, and Kocho Racin. Other important streets in the city are: Ilinden, шкаiшкаka, Seventh of September, Mito Hadџиivasilev - Jasmin, Viшниeцаnica, Strasho Pindџur. The city also has eight roundabouts.
The settlement of Kavadarci was first mentioned in
1519, as a small rural settlement within the Kyustendil Sandzak. In
1664, Evliya Çelebi visited Kavadarci (Tikvesh), who left a record
of the Kavadarci Bazaar, which was then organized city life. He
states that the town is the center of a kaza with 70 living villages
and has 300 roofs with tiled houses. There are four neighborhoods,
three mosques and a beautiful bathroom. There are two markets for
merchants and a bazaar with about 74 shops. Kavadarci was first the
seat of a nahija within the Strumica kaza, and since the 17th
century - is an independent kaza. Education in Kavadarci has deep
roots and a rich tradition, and the first cell schools were opened
in the premises of the Moklic, Polog and Bosha Monasteries during
the 18th and 19th centuries. The settlement is also mentioned in
Turkish documents from 1823. The document mentions Kavadarci as a
small settlement ("kasaba") with about 2,000 inhabitants in the far
eastern part of the then Bitola vilayet. In his article entirely
dedicated to Tikvesh entitled "Ljubljano-Peonia", published in the
"Constantinople Gazette" on February 12, 1855, the Macedonian
educator Jordan Hadzi-Konstantinov - The Giant wrote that the
village of Kavadarci (Govedarci) has a large and beautiful a small
school, three mosques (mosques), a clock (sahat), an old high tower
(pillar) where ayan and kadi sit. This indicates that as early as
the middle of the 19th century Kavadarci was the central place of
the entire Tikvesh area where the court (kadija) and the
administrative authorities were located. The city of Kavadarci began
to develop in the early nineteenth century, but in the vicinity
there are archaeological excavations that indicate that there was a
settlement here in ancient times and in the Middle Ages. Witnesses
from the Middle Ages are the many beautiful medieval churches and
monasteries in the area, especially around the caves on the shores
of Lake Tikvesh.
In mid-July 1894, at the initiative of Dame
Gruev, the second MRO committee was established. The members of the
committee were:
Pane Ivanov - head teacher in the primary school;
Jovanche Velkov - merchant;
Ivanche Minchev - civil servant; and
Janaki Iliev - Kjurchiev - merchant.
To mark that moment, the
Council of the Municipality of Kavadarci in July 1999 erected a
memorial plaque in the city.
Tikvesh Uprising
In June
1913, the city of Kavadarci was one of the centers where the Tikvesh
Uprising broke out, which was the first popular armed resistance
against the new Serbian government. The uprising was provoked by the
violence perpetrated by the Serbian occupying authorities against
the Macedonian population during the efforts for assimilation and
enslavement. With the support of VMRO, an assembly was convened with
delegates from almost all places in Tikvesh where it was unanimously
decided to start an uprising and create an insurgent headquarters,
composed of prominent dukes from that area, among whom were: Doncho
Lazarov, Mihail Shkartov, Koce Seizov, Dime Pindzurov, Todor Kamchev
and others. About 1,000 insurgents took part in the uprising, 200 of
whom were ordinary citizens holding rifles, and the rest were
comites from VMRO detachments. The uprising started on June 19,
1913, in addition to Negotino and Kavadarci, about fifty villages in
the Tikves area were liberated. Doncho Lazarov and Mihail Shkartov's
detachments attack and expel the Serbian armies from Negotino.
Serbian authorities send their troops from nearby villages to
Negotino, but they are all defeated. The insurgents continue and
manage to expel the Serbian officials and scribes from the municipal
building in Kavadarci and lowering the Serbian flag, they set up the
Tikvesh revolutionary flag. On June 20, a solemn assembly was held
at which a city administration composed of 12 prominent citizens of
Kavadarci was elected, and the freedom lasted only 7 days. On June
25, Serbian soldiers suppressed the uprising, set fire to much of
Kavadarci, and, among other things, over 60 shops and wealthy houses
were looted.
The memorial ossuary in Kavadarci is a
monumental monument that symbolizes an old Macedonian house that is
the eternal home of fallen fighters. It houses the remains of the
killed fighters from Kavadarci, victims of the fascist terror of the
National Liberation War in the period from 1941-1945, which were
located near Kavadarci. Inside it, their names are inscribed on
granite slabs. The memorial ossuary is made of concrete. It was
discovered on September 7, 1976. It is the work of the professor at
the Faculty of Architecture in Skopje, Petar Mulichkovski.
The building is located at an altitude of 305 meters and from there
you can see the panorama of Kavadarci and Tikvesh. It is a stylized
Macedonian house fenced with concrete walls 3 meters thick. The
lower bracket represents the inner courtyard of the house which
continues into the outer courtyard in the form of an amphitheater.
The lower part is entered through two iron doors (south and north)
on which clusters are presented. They lead to the open part of the
ossuary where the gallery of the heroes is located. In the past, the
walls were empty and housed the relics of the dead, but in recent
years their coffins have been moved to the city museum for
protection. Here are twenty formed marble slabs with more than three
hundred names written on them, namely 328 names of fighters who died
in the National Liberation War. Then, through a staircase in the
middle of the building that leads spirally upwards, one enters the
closed part with a height of 12 meters, which is a stylized
Macedonian house inspired by an Ohrid house. This closed part is
divided into two floors that are associated with verandas whose
walls have openings that symbolize the windows.
The population in the city, and in the whole region in
general, is mostly engaged in viticulture. The most important
commercial buildings are the Tikvesh Winery, the Metallurgical Plant
for Ferronickel "FENI", the Industry for Construction Materials and
Steel Structures "IGM", the tobacco factory "Alliance One Macedonia
AD", the factory "Metalex", and more recently in huge There are many
private wineries and wineries such as "Chekorov", "Popov" and
others. Recently, the economy in Kavadarci has been growing with the
construction and opening of the German factory for parts in the
automotive industry "Drexlmeier" which employs about 6,000 people
from Kavadarci and the surrounding towns of Negotino, Prilep and
Veles.
In the city there is a Bus Station - Kavadarci which
transports passengers to and from Skopje, Veles, Negotino, Prilep,
Resen, Ohrid, Struga, Strumica, Demir Kapija, Valandovo, Gevgelija,
Belgrade, Sofia.
Museum-gallery
Museum-Gallery from Kavadarci as an institution in the field of
culture was established by a decision of the Assembly of the
Municipality of Kavadarci on September 7, 1973. On September 6,
1976, with the opening of the art exhibition of the Slovenian
painter Mario Vilhar, he officially started working.
The
museum-gallery is an institution open to the public, has an
educational role, in order to develop interactive communication with
visitors, and through the presentation of movable and immovable
heritage to attract a wider audience.
The museum includes an
archeological, ethnological, historical department, a department for
protection of cultural monuments, a department for art history and a
gallery where a dozen exhibitions take place annually, a memorial
room for Vasil Hadzimanov and a memorial room for Nikola Badev. The
museum also has several permanent exhibits: archeological,
ethnological, historical exhibits and exhibits for traditional food
and wine preparation.
In 2002, a local Wine Museum for the Tikvesh-Kavadarci region was opened in the city park in Kavadarci, where the history of the Tikvesh Region in the production of grapes and wine is presented in several exhibitions. Among the exhibits are a device for measuring the sugar content in wine from 1534, the so-called refrigerator - ledar from 1934 in which ice was once carried from the so-called ledars from the locality, Bear's hole near Kavadarci. In addition to museum exhibits and photographs, the museum also has a collection of wines for tasting.
Church "St. Dimitrij" - the central parish church, was restored in
1834;
Church "St. Petka" - the newest and largest church in the city.
The cornerstone was laid on August 7, 2010, and consecrated on October
18, 2015;
Chapel "St. John the Baptist" - baptistery, located next to
the church "St. Five";
Chapel "St. Kliment Ohridski" - chapel,
located next to the church "St. Five";
Central Mosque - the only
mosque in the city;
Christian Adventist Church - the only Adventist
church in the city.
Tikvesh vintage is a manifestation that gives a special mark to the
city and coincides with the celebration of the liberation day of
Kavadarci, September 7, and is held every year in September at the
beginning of the second week. The event symbolically begins with the
plucking of a bunch of grapes by the mayor of Kavadarci.
T'k - Tak
Fest is a rock festival organized in honor of the late Macedonian rock
legend Trajko Karov. The festival was held for the first time in 2011,
and Macedonian rock bands perform. So far, Superhiks, Vision, Area,
Tokmu Taka, Autogram, Triangle and many others have taken part.
"Dedo
cepe borina" - a festival of jokes and pranks that takes place during
Christmas Eve in the town square and selects three best jokes.
City Park "Ljupcho Shkartov" - the largest park in the city built in
1955
Central park - park in the center of Kavadarci
Poljana Park -
a smaller park where the Mark's Tower is located
Babin Dol - settlement and necropolis from Roman times;
Begova
Padina - settlement from the copper age;
Bel Grad - a settlement from
late antiquity;
Gavalinica - necropolis from Roman times;
Gumninja
- a necropolis from Roman times;
Disansko Movce - necropolis from
late antiquity;
Želkovets - necropolis from Roman times;
Karamanski Rid - settlement from Roman times;
Livadiste - necropolis
from Roman times;
Malinovi Kuqi - settlement and necropolis from late
antiquity;
Monastery - settlement and necropolis from late antiquity;
Ovovo - settlement and necropolis from Roman times;
Seliste - a
settlement from late antiquity;
Uma - settlement from Roman times;
Church - necropolis from late antiquity;
According to the statistics of Vasil K'nchov ("Macedonia, Ethnography
and Statistics") from 1900, 5,092 inhabitants lived in Kavadarci, of
which 1,950 were Orthodox Macedonians, 3,000 Muslim Macedonians, 120
Roma and 32 Vlachs.
According to the census of 1931, the
Kavadarec section (of today's Kavadarci and Rosoman municipalities) as
part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia had 23,919 inhabitants.
In the
first organized census of SFR Yugoslavia in 1948, there were 40,617
inhabitants in the Kavadar region, of which 6,228 were in the town of
Kavadarci, 2,683 in Negotino, and 31,706 in the villages (Tikvesh,
Bosava, Vitachevo). From an ethnic point of view, the population
consisted of 37,098 (91.3%) Macedonians, 1,480 (3.64%) Turks, 1,410
(3.47%) Serbs, 137 Vlachs, 127 Roma and 365 others.
According to
the 2002 population census, the city had 29,188 inhabitants and belonged
to the group of medium-sized cities. If we take into account that the
settlements of Glisic (1,362 inhabitants) and Vatasha (3,502
inhabitants) are almost merged with Kavadarci, then the wider territory
of the city of Kavadarci includes a population of 34,052 inhabitants
(33,125 Macedonians).
Dobri Daskalov (October 30, 1882 - June 16, 1912) - Macedonian
revolutionary, member of VMRO
Atanas Kalchev (around 1883 - 1944) -
Macedonian revolutionary, leader of the Internal Macedonian
Revolutionary Organization
Mihail Shkartov (1884-1936) — Macedonian
revolutionary, Duke of Veles and member of the Macedonian Revolutionary
Organization.
Jordan Anastasov (January 4, 1893 - October 10, 1976,
Sofia, Bulgaria) - member of VMRO united
Vasil Hadzimanov (January
14, 1906 - Skopje, December 16, 1969), Macedonian ethnomusicologist and
pedagogue
Nikola Minchev (November 2, 1915 - April 6, 1997, Skopje) -
Macedonian communist, politician and participant in NOB
Nikola Badev
(August 8, 1918, Glisic - September 25, 1976, Skopje) - singer and
collector of Macedonian folk songs
Kiro Hadji Vasilev (1921 - 200,
Ohrid) - Macedonian publicist, participant in NOB and social and
political worker in SR Macedonia and SFRY
Mito Hadjivasilev - Jasmin
(December 21, 1922 - August 1, 1968) — Macedonian communist and
politician and journalist, called the "first feather" of Macedonian
journalism and journalism.
Ivan Mazov (January 7, 1923 - February 15,
1977) - Macedonian storyteller, theater critic and publicist
Angel
Chemerski - Janush (1923 - Skopje, November 18, 2005) - Macedonian
revolutionary and party official
Kiro Krstov Atanasovski Nalbatot
(1923 - April 7, 1944, Kavadarci) - Macedonian partisan, participant in
the National Liberation War and national hero of Yugoslavia
Petar
Mazev (February 10, 1927 - March 13, 1993, Skopje) — Macedonian painter,
one of the most significant creators of Macedonian modern art.
Lazo
Karovski (1927) - Macedonian folklorist, poet and writer
Eftim Manev
(January 25, 1931 - Skopje, March 16, 2010) - Macedonian poet and
translator
Vladimir Mitkov (1913) - Macedonian politician, social
scientist and president of the Presidency of the SR Macedonia.
Stojan
Andov (November 30, 1935) - Macedonian politician, president of the
Assembly on two occasions
Gligor Chemerski (1940 - Skopje, April 2,
2016) — Macedonian painter and sculptor
Todor Gechevski (August 28,
1977) - basketball player, member of the Macedonian national team
Petar Angelov (March 8, 1977) - handball player, member of the
Macedonian national team
Vanche Shikov (July 19, 1985) - soccer
player, member of the Macedonian national team
Daniel Mojsov -
football player, member of the Macedonian national team
Katerina
Taneva - Gjorgjiev - folk singer;