SMILEVO, DAYS OF THE SMILEVO CONGRESS, DEMIR HISAR MUNICIPALITY

Smilevo is a village in the municipality of Demir Hisar, in the district of Gjavat-Kol, near the town of Demir Hisar. The village is hilly, at an altitude of 880 meters. Accessed from the Demir Hisar-Bitola road, the village is a bit more than nine kilometers away.
Smilevo is the only Mijaks village in Demir Hisar area. It is inhabited by Mijaks, who came from the Mija region in the late 18th and early 19th century, fleeing from the great atrocities and robberies. The legend says that next to present settlement of the Smilevo village, there was a settlement of Brsjatsi. That place is called Old Smilevo. The newly arrived Mijaks continued to raise livestock, but when robberies and insecurity occurred there, they abandoned animal husbandry and turned to the masonry trade. Soon they became the biggest masters - masons in Bitola, Resen and beyond.
At an air-distance of only about a kilometer from Smilevo, or ten kilometers northeast of the village, in the Smilevo forest; surrounded by a hundred year old forest and in a typical bird-chanting setting, there is the monastery dedicated to the Saints Peter and Paul.
It’s assumed it is more than 150 years old and is listed among the most famous cultural and historical monuments. However, due to absence and neglection, the old monastery church was left to the ravages of time for a long time and only ruins remained.