Lesnovo monastery - Probistip

Lesnovo monastery - St. Gavril Lesnovski

Milestone caves.

Lesnovo, Probistip municipality - Lesnovo village is located in the vicinity of Probistip, 900-1000 meters above sea level. The village monastery St. Gavril Lesnovski was constructed in 1347 by the ruler Oliver 1st. The monastery is known for its manuscript-writing school and the wood-carved iconostasis from 1811, a work of art performed by the Mijak craftsman. The monastery is the centre of the Christianity in this part of the country and has been visited by many during religious holiday services. The monastery is famous for housing one out of three iconostases made by the famous Macedonian woodcarvers Frckovski and the Filipovski brothers. The other two are found in the church of St Spas in Skopje and in the monastery St Jovan Bigorski in the Mavrovo National Park.

You can still see the mosaic floor of the 11th-century church on whose foundations the current church was built.
On the ceiling of the narthex you can see frescoes of the sun and the moon and 12 animals of people in the sky. Despite they clearly show the zodiac signs, the monk says that they are not designed to depict the zodiac signs.
You cannot enter the monastery if you are dressed inappropriately, but you can borrow trainers and skirts at the entrance to cover yourself.


The Church of the Holy Archangels in Lesnovo
The village Lesnovo is 17 kilometers from Probistip. An asphalted road leads to it. The village has its own authentic architecture and an enormous very old ethnological collection. The Lesnovo environment is very interesting - the landscape is predominately rocks, naturally sculptured, among which the most impressive one is the so-called "Virgin Mary with a Child".


Milestone Caves
In the hills surrounding Lesnovo you will find many man-made caves.  These caves were made by many generations of people who were cutting millstones from the rocks. You will see unfinished millstones everywhere on the walls of the caves. Trails lead from the village to the caves.