Radovis - Princess Rada or King Radula?

Radovis is a town located in south-east Macedonia. It is the second largest in that region and is set in the base of the Plachkovica Mountain and the northern part of the Strumica-Radovis ravine. The town’s main connection is the regional road Stip-Radovis-Strumica.

It is the headquarters of the municipality Radovis that consists of 35 other settlements. Radovis is known for the “Holy Trinity” church, the cross above the town, the Plachkovica Mountain, the mine Buchim, the Electro-technical Faculty and the Radovis bread.

It is 121 km away from Skopje (about 2 hours of traveling by car), 220 km from Ohrid, 502 km from Belgrade, 160 km from Thessaloniki, and has good functional connections with the neighboring towns of Stip (36 km away) and Strumica (29 km away).

Those are the basic features of this Macedonian town that can be found on the internet.

However, to me, Radovis is something special. And I like to go to this warm town where two rivers are flowing – Stara River and Susica. It is warm because of the influence of the moderate Mediterranean-Continental climate and is at an altitude of 380 meters. The average annual temperatures range from 12.5 to 13C with the highest temperatures coming in July and August, with an average of 23C. This region has 2.326 sunny hours per year, or more than six per day.

Radovis used to be a medieval parish, with its medieval town tradition and was first mentioned in 1019 in the charter of the Byzantine emperor Basil II. The town was an important regional trading, crafts and mining center. I like going there and taking a walk through its settlements and neighborhoods.

I like to go there and ask the people over and over again whether the town’s name is related to the name of the medieval princess with Slavic origin, Rada, who lived in the fortress above the town, with the ruins of it still existing. On the other hand, the famous Turkish traveler Evliya Çelebi wrote something else in his description of Radovis from the 17th century.

“Because this place was the picnic and hunting ground of some local king called Radula, the town’s name is wrongly called Radovis because of him. The town is spread over a territory divided by a river.

Radovis has 400 houses with tile roofs and most of them are ground-floor or one-floor, and they also have gardens. The town consists of five neighborhoods and has two restaurants which are not very good. There are a total of 150 small shops and there is no stone-built market. It is a small town with many vineyards, gardens and pleasant climate”.

The park of wine and guitar

I like going to this town, with surrounding full of archaeological sites, monasteries and churches, underground waters, springs and smaller artificial accumulations, and around 21.000 hectares of oak, beech, conifer and ash forest, diverse flora and fauna, clear and healthy environment. I like going to this region that is attractive for recreational, sports, hunting, fishing, rural, mountain, spa, archaeological and other kinds of alternative tourism. I like going to the new “Park of wine and guitar”, a new place where the people of the village of Podares, near Radovis, can socialize, relax and have fun, and where the wino is a tradition and the guitar is something modern.

I like going there, and see the “Holy Trinity” church – a Christian temple with a capacity of 600 people that was sanctified in 2003 and is one of the most beautiful, modern and richest orthodox temples in the Balkans. I like to see the icons on the iconostasis made by Dancho Kalchev, the paintings made by famous masters from Ukranie and a carving by a Ukrainian master.

I like to see the inner paintings, the mosaic and the carvings, which were all done by masters from Ukraine over a period of five years, the element from Ancient Macedonia, the star from Kutlesh, the medicine of Alexander and Phillip of Macedon, the iconostasis and the pillars made from 24-carat gold.

I like to see the 21-meter high church with a 23.5-meter high, 550-square meter bell tower. The whole complex is spread over 4000 square meters and has a parking lot, fountains, etc.

Iconostasis with a 22-meter span

I like to go to the “Holy Trinity” church in Radovis to see whether all the inner walls, pillars, vaults and domes were painted according to the orthodox canons and whether the total painting really covers a surface of 1.541 square meters and has a 44-square meter gilding. I want to set my foot on the floor coated with marble and granite tiles, ornamented with symbols and compositions that had a strong influence on the Macedonian country.

I want to see the iconostasis that spans over 22 meters and is made of three parts, with the central part reaching a height of 6.8 meters. And I also want to see whether it was made of lime tree with a wide carving, rich with details and full gilding of the royal doors.

I want to see the bell tower with its highlighted grandiosity and monumentality, covered with a dome that was made from reinforced concrete and covered with patinated copper, where a gold-plated cross was set, and the three bells that were made in Bergamo, Italy.

I want to listen to the people of Radovis speaking with respect and pride about the newly-built church that is located in the center, on the “Alexander the Great” boulevard. I want to be impressed by its size and exterior surrounding that forms a whole that can only be experienced at the spot. The donor of the church is Risto Gusterov, who was born in Radovis.

In the two-tier atelier of the painter called Spiridon at the “Montmartre”, the artist, whose first exhibition at the French capital was opened with one of his paintings hanging on the neck of the great Salvador Dali, was showing me his big canvases when he suddenly stopped and told me:

“There is a man from Macedonia that I know – Risto Gusterov. I was at his house on Florida, but didn’t buy any of my paintings. Do you know him?

“I know who he is, but I don’t know him personally” – I replied.

That is why I want to go to the “Holy Trinity” church in Radovis – so I can meet him in person. Look what he has done, ask yourself why he has done it and you will know every person. And now I know that the donor, who has been all around the world, knows that if it wasn’t for this small piece of land (Macedonia) he would know where a man could live, but he could never know where a man could die, as poet Ante Popovski would say.

Now hear my words

I like to go to Radovis because of the stories about the Juruks (nomads) that the poet Ilhami Emin used to tell me, because of the fact that the opera singer and professor Milka Eftimova was born there, because of my colleague Borche Panov, etc.

But above all, I like to go there because of the great poet Aco Karamanov, who was born in this town on 31st January 1927. He wrote his first verses in second grade, at the age of 9. In early September 1944 he joined the 13th Macedonian National Brigade, where he fought for just 32 days.

He died on 7th October 1944 at the age of 17, near the village of Smojmirovo, near Berovo, during a battle against the German fascists. He was hit by an enemy bullet on the day when he sang his last verse: “We should be singing even when we are dying”.

Every year, “The Karamanov Poetic Meetings” are being held in his honor and they unite the poets from all the Balkan countries, as well as from outside the Balkans. There are also a street in the town, a kindergarten, the Culture Center and a folklore ensemble from Radovish that were named by him.