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 The
village of Lešok is located 8 km from Tetovo, on the road Tetovo - Jazhince, on
the southeastern side of the mountain Šar Planina. It has a beautiful natural
surrounding, rich with clean mountain air and wonderful scenery. Its good
climate makes it one of the nicest and healthiest places in Macedonia. This was
the rationale behind building the lung disease hospital 50 years ago. The famous
Lešok Monastery is situated in the so-called Gorno Lešok neighborhood, 610
meters above sea level. In its complex are the churches of St. Atanasius and the
Holy Mother of God, as well as the grave and memorial room of
Kiril Pejčinović,
one of the most famous Macedonian educators from the 19th Century. With his
arrival from Hilendar in 1818, the monastery dormitories were redecorated, the
monastery library was founded and Lešok became a literature and educational
center.
There are two churches in the village of Lešok that are dedicated to Saint
Anastasius, one of them being older and the other from a more recent date.
The old church is ruined and can be approached by the road that leads to the
village of Brezno. It dates from the 14th Century. It was built preserving
Byzantine style of stone, brick and lime and has marble floors. Several marble
columns from the iconostasis with capitols decorated with pictures of human and
animal heads are kept in the Tetovo museum. The church was painted immediately
after its construction. The more recent church was built in 1924 and is located
in the monastery, next to the church of the Holy Mother of God and the
dormitories.
The exact time of construction of the church of the Holy Mother of God is
unknown. The oldest information about it is from the first half of the 14th
Century, 1326, but it is believed that it was built before the 14th Century. The
church is in the shape of a triconhos, with three-sided conches on the outside
and a narthex that was added later. There are three layers of frescoes on the
walls from different periods. The bottom layer is from the time of the
construction of the church, the second one is from the 17th century and the last
layer is from 1879. The last fresco-painter of the church is the painter from
Galicnik, Mihail Gjurcinov, who is also the author of several icons from its
iconostasis.
 After
the bombing of the Albanian terrorist, that tried to delete, the presence of the
Orthodox Christians in this part of the world, archaeological Excavations at Monastery of Lešok - Mediaeval Graves with
Elements of Byzantine Period Excavated
(text obtained from Dnevnik, 27.09.2002) - According to the findings, the village of Lešok
stretched in and around the present-day courtyard of the Monastery, and St. Holy
Mother was a village church in Mediaeval times, explains archaeologist Lilcic.
Archaeologists have discovered around 15 Mediaeval graves with architectural
elements of the Byzantine period (under Komnen Dynasty, 12th and 13th centuries)
at the compound of St. Holy Mother, the Mediaeval church in the compound of the
Lešok Monastery, Tetovo area. The place is likely to have even older layers, but
this could be proved if it was explored more thoroughly, say archaeologists in a
team exploring the monastery compound.
Dr. Viktor Lilcic, the head of the excavation team and Professor at the Art
History and Archaeology Department with the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje,
says that they found strong evidence of life in Mediaeval times around the
church. Some of the graves were destroyed at the times when the present-day
hospital was built.
“Most graves are located around the altar apsis. We didn’t open them nor did
we explore them because such an action needs more resources. We should open
larger tubes around the church in order to define some entity. We also found
roof tiles from the Komnen period. Probably, there are even older layers but we
didn’t go that deep, explains Lilcic.
The findings so far have led to the conclusion that the village of Lešok
stretched in and around the present-day courtyard of the monastery, and St. Holy
Mother was a village church. Because of the Šar Planina mountainous heavy rains,
the population climbed down to the valley.
“These are only assumptions. We should select the findings and make more
comprehensive studies if we want to get to a more serious scientific conclusion,
says Lilcic.
Archaeologists installed a three meter deep tube in the ruined church of St.
Atanasija in the naos (the middle of the church). So far, they have defined
three horizons – late Mediaeval, Mediaeval, and ancient.
“There are probably older layers but when we got to the depth of three meters
we came across some gas, probably from underground water. We stopped the
excavations to protect our team against suffocating, adds Lilcic.
Srecko Jovanoski, Director of the Museum in Tetovo, says the excavations should
be completed these days. “Office” research will follow – selection of the
material and coming to concrete conclusion. Restoration of the church should
start next year after the winter, but this is dependent on the European
Reconstruction Agency, which is financing the project. The reconstruction is
performed by the Republic Institute for Protection of Monuments.
The excavations of the compound of the monastery at Lešok are the second phase
of the project for reconstruction and restoration of the monastery church St.
Atanasija, funded by the European Commission for Repair of Damages inflicted
during the armed conflict in the country. The project was initiated after
Albanian terrorists booby-trapped the altar of St. Atanasija and blew it up last
August.
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