One of the first places we visited outside of Lake Ohrid was beautiful St Naum.
It is known for its beauty and peacocks. It is 15km south of the town of Ohrid and is 1km from the Albanian border.
Like most religious buildings in North Macedonia you are not allowed to take photos inside because of damage to the frescoes. But the church was beautiful inside and had such a peaceful feel to it.
There was a small building next to the main church that had many modernised frescoes, which I did take photos of below.
St Naum was born in 830 to wealthy parents but left his inheritance to preach Christianity and become a monk. He was the youngest student of St Methodius and St Cyril. He along with St Clement translated hundreds of books from Greek into the language spoken by the Macedonian Slavs in the surroundings of Salonika.
His Church was destroyed by the Ottomans in the 15th century. It was then rebuilt into the Byzantine-style structure between the 16th and 17th centuries. Wedding photos are often taken at St Naum as it is such a beautiful place.
There is a beautiful wood carved statue of St Naum close to the entrance. He is in many pictures and paintings around Ohrid and is easily recognisable with his long beard.
He studied under St Cyril and St Methodius (brothers). They developed the Slavic alphabet (Glagolitic)which has thirty-eight letters. The source for the letters for the characteristic Slavonic sounds came from the Coptic and ancient Hebrew alphabets. He was one of the founders of the Pliska Literary School (the first literary school in medieval Bulgaria) where he worked between 886 and 893.
He died in December at the age of 80 and was buried at St Naum by St Clement in the monastery church. He was canonised as a saint a short time after his death.