St. Joakim Osogovski - Monastery in Kriva Palanka

Monastery Joakim Osogovski on the slopes of the Osogovo mountain, exsisted on this location since XI century - a time when Joakim Osogovski lived.

Today there are no traces of the original monastery, but on this place monastery church was built which exists untill modern times.

Location: 1330 Kriva Palanka

Contact phone: +389 31 375 063

The hagiography of Joakim Osogovski says that during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Manojlo Comnenus (1143-1180), a priest Theodore from village Osmir-Dol, Ovco Pole, remaining a widower, became a monk and founded a monastery in the vicinity of today's monastery Joakim Osogovski, devoting this monastery to Joakim.

Monastery was called Sarandopor and it was named after the name of the locality where the monastery was built.

In the historical chronicles for the first time the monastery is mentioned in connection with the visit of Tsar Kaloyan (1196-1207) while in Karlovac Chronicle in 1503 it is said the monastery was built by the King Milutin. This is not true and probably, they ment to say the monastery was repaired.

Monks from Joakim Osogovski were forced to go even in Dubrovnik to require from Dubrovnik Republic material assistance for the maintenance of the monastery which was depleted. A century later, in 1586, the monastery strongly suffered from earthquake. Because of the damages, monks were not able to renew it, so the Kjustendil (Kyustendil) metropolitan Visarion decided to go to Moscow for help.
After the rebuilding, in the middle of the seventeenth century (1643), this monastery was in its bloom.

When in 1686 Archbishop Arsenie III from Veles came here, he was enthralled by the richness and beauty of the monastery, and he wrote down all the items and cursed those who will reach for its property.

The bloom period of the monastery did not last more than a century. Towards the middle of the eighteenth century, the monastery was again in very bad position and its renewal was obstructed by the Turkish authorities.

On initiative by Hadji Stefan Beglikchijata in 1847 year began the construction of the great cathedral dedicated to St. Joakim Osogovski.

In the year 1851 it was completed and consecrated. The construction was entrusted to the master Andrej Damjanov (1817-1878), originally from yield Renzovci the most famous builder in the Balkans since the beginning of the nineteenth century. 

The inside of the church and the porch are painted by the crafty hand of four Macedonian painters. Dimitrij (Demetrius) Andonov Papradiski in the period of 1884-1945 with love has transferred all his skills, painting the northern and southern dome of the porch, west and south facade and arches above the porch on the south side.

In year 1884 here worked the painters Miron (Myron) Iliev, Avram Dicov and Gligorie Petrovic from village Tresonce, which have painted the middle dome above the porch on the west side of the church.

Most important part of the frescoes is on the west wall of the church, which was painted by Papradiski. One of the most characteristic paintings composition "Evangelical preaching of the Apostle Paul," in which the artist's hand entered and profane elements. On this remarkable mural the folk costume from Kriva Palanka glows with all its beauty.

The oldest building in the todays monastery complex is the small church Holy Mother of God, built in the fourteenth or sixteenth century, on the foundations of a church built in the XI - XII century. According to the building concept it is one nave small church, with cruciform base, and a three-sided apse outside porch. The building is characterized by the Byzantine style. It is built with two rows of brick and stone row in horizontal rows, with a thick layer of mortar between them. The church is one of the first medieval churches in Macedonia and it was painted recently.

The monastic quarters and grand dining room, as well as other auxiliary buildings, evidence the intense monastic life at a time when Macedonia was under Turkish slavery.

The monastery is open to pilgrims, visitors, passengers and tourists. Usually they come to venerate the miraculous relics of St. Joachim, which are kept in the church.

The feast of the temple on August 29, is a faithful flee for many visitors of monastery where thay can worship the saint.

The monastery is also a place for many cultural events, such as the International Art Colony "St. Joakim Osogovski" Summer School for Architecture and Colony of the Association of carvers.