MONASTERY CHURCH ``ST. NICHOLAS``, VILLAGE OF MANASTIR, MARIOVO

Medieval Macedonian Orthodox Christian monastery located in the village of Manastir, in the district of Mariovo. It is located right at the very end of the village on the southern side, on the right bank high above the Crna River in the Chebren Gorge.
The church was built in 1266 on the foundations of an older church from 1095 by the protostator Alexius, a relative of the Byzantine emperor Alexius Comnenus.
Other documents for the later period, with the exception of the 19th century, have not been preserved. The icons that are found in the church today are from the 19th century, which indicates the extent of the restoration efforts from that time.
The church dedicated to St. Nicholas is a cultural monument from the Byzantine period and contains extremely valuable frescoes made in the early Byzantine period. This type of painting is very rare and is represented only in the church in Kurbinovo and in ``St. Sophia`` in Ohrid.