North MacedoniaNorth Macedonia (ˌmæsəˈdoʊniə ), officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Kosovo to the northwest, Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south, and Albania to the west. It constitutes approximately the northern third of the larger geographical region of Macedonia. Skopje, the capital and largest city, is home to a quarter of the country's 1.83 million people. The majority of the residents are ethnic Macedonians, a South Slavic people.
PogradecPogradec (pɔɡɾaˈdɛt͡s) is the eleventh most populous city in Albania and the capital of the eponymous municipality. It is located on a narrow plain between two mountain chains along the southwestern banks of the Lake of Ohrid. Its climate is profoundly influenced by a seasonal Mediterranean and Continental climate. The total population is 61,530, of which 20,848 in the municipal unit (the pre-2015 municipality) Pogradec (2011 census). Pogradec and its surroundings were listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site as part of the natural and cultural heritage of the region of Ohrid.
ElbasanElbasan (ˌɛlbəˈsɑːn ˈɛlbaˈsan; Elbasani ˈɛlbaˈsani) is the fourth most populous city of Albania and seat of Elbasan County and Elbasan Municipality. It lies to the north of the river Shkumbin between the Skanderbeg Mountains and the Myzeqe Plain in central Albania. The Albanian name is derived from the Ottoman Turkish il-basan ("the fortress"). Elbasan is also the Aromanian name of the city. According to Saliaj the name in antiquity Scampa is derived from the word Shkamba ("The Rock or Cliff") in Albanian.
BitolaBitola (ˈbiːtoʊlə,_-tələ; Битола ˈbitɔɫa) is a city in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba, Nidže, and Kajmakčalan mountain ranges, north of the Medžitlija-Níki border crossing with Greece. The city stands at an important junction connecting the south of the Adriatic Sea region with the Aegean Sea and Central Europe, and it is an administrative, cultural, industrial, commercial, and educational centre.
VidinVidin (Видин, ˈvidin; Romanian: Diiu) is a port city on the southern bank of the Danube in north-western Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Romania and Serbia, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin (since 870). An agricultural and trade centre, Vidin has a fertile hinterland renowned for its wines. The name is archaically spelled as Widdin in English. Old name Dunonia itself meant "fortified hill" in Celtic with the typically dun found frequently in Celtic place names.
Serbian EmpireThe Serbian Empire (Српско царство / Srpsko carstvo, sr̩̂pskoː tsâːrstʋo) was a medieval Serbian state that emerged from the Kingdom of Serbia. It was established in 1346 by Dušan the Mighty, who significantly expanded the state. During Dušan's rule, Serbia was the most powerful state in Southeast Europe and one of the most powerful European states. It was an Eastern Orthodox multi-ethnic and multi-lingual empire that stretched from the Danube in the north to the Gulf of Corinth in the south, with its capital in Skopje.
Macedonia (region)Macedonia (ˌmæsɪˈdoʊniə ) is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time; however, it came to be defined as the modern geographical region by the mid-19th century. Today the region is considered to include parts of six Balkan countries: all of North Macedonia, large parts of Greece and Bulgaria, and smaller parts of Albania, Serbia, and Kosovo. It covers approximately and has a population of around five million.
PlovdivPlovdiv (Пловдив, ˈpɫɔvdif) is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace, behind the state capital Sofia. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub in Bulgaria and was the European Capital of Culture in 2019. The city is an important economic, transport, cultural, and educational center. Plovdiv joined the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities in 2016.
SkopjeSkopje (ˈskɒpjeɪ , USalsoˈskoʊpjeɪ ; Скопје ˈskɔpjɛ; Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. Skopje lies in the Skopje Basin. Scupi is attested for the first time in the second century CE as a city in Roman Dardania. When the Roman Empire was divided into eastern and western halves in 395 AD, Scupi came under Byzantine rule from Constantinople.
Byzantine architectureByzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire, or Eastern Roman Empire. The Byzantine era is usually dated from 330 AD, when Constantine the Great established a new Roman capital in Byzantium, which became Constantinople, until the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453. However, there was initially no hard line between the Byzantine and Roman Empires, and early Byzantine architecture is stylistically and structurally distinguishable from earlier Roman architecture.
