Discover Kruševo

Kruševo is famous for being one of the first Balkan Republics and the highest town in Macedonia. It developed into a large prosperous town in the 18th century. It was inhabited by Macedonian Vlachs (Macedo-Vlahs) and Macedonians from the Reka region in Western Macedonia called Miyaks. Both suffered a lot from Ali Pasha Janinski, an Albanian aristocrat, and his army, so they gathered in Bitola asking for help from the Turkish administration. The governor offered to let them stay in Bitola and the Vlachs who were traders and goldsmiths accepted, but the Mijaks and the Vlachs who had large herds of sheep and were used to living in the mountains, didn’t have anything to do in Bitola, so they were allowed to found their own city. It was a good combination, as the Vlachs were rich and the Mijaks were the best builders in the Balkans, and both groups had a very sophisticated sense of aesthetics, so they created the wonderful Kruševo we have today. On 2nd of August 1903 the Ilinden Uprising started in Kruševo, the biggest rebellion of the Macedonians against the Ottoman Turks. On the freed territory Kruševo Republic was established which lasted for 10 days and Nikola Karev was proclaimed President of Kruševo Republic. He wrote the Kruševo Manifesto which called all peoples that live in Macedonia to join them in the struggle for freedom.