Lake Ohrid : ALBANIA/ MACEDONIA (FYROM)
Lake Ohrid straddles the mountainous border between the southwestern region of the Republic of Macedonia and eastern Albania. It is probably the oldest lake in Europe preserving a unique aquatic ecosystem with more than 200 endemic species. Lake Ohrid is the deepest lake of the Balkans with a maximum depth of 940 ft. It covers an area of 138 square miles. The lake drains an area of around 2600 km² and is fed primarily by underground springs on the eastern shore (about 50% of total inflow), with roughly 25% shares from rivers and direct precipitation. Over 20% of the lake's water comes from nearby Lake Prespa, about 10 km (6 miles) to the southeast and at 150 m higher altitude than Lake Ohrid. The water leaves Lake Prespa trickling through underground watercourses in the karstic landscape, where it is joined by mountain range precipitation and eventually emerges in numerous springs along the eastern shore and below the water surface of Lake Ohrid. The water leaves Lake Ohrid by evaporation (~40%) and through its only outlet, the Black Drin River, which flows in a northerly direction into Albania and thus to the Adriatic Sea. The relatively dry, Mediterranean climate and the small drainage basin of 2600 km² (catchment/lake surface ratio of ~7) of Lake Ohrid results in a long hydraulic residence time scale of ~70 yr. he Ohrid and Prespa Lakes belong to a group of Dessaret basins that originated from a geotectonic depression during the Pliocene epoch up to five million years ago on the western side of the Dinaric Alps. Worldwide, there are only a few lakes with similarly remote origins with Lake Baikal and Lake Tanganyika being the most famous. Most other, short-lived lakes have a life span of less than 100,000 years before they are eventually filled up with sediments. It is believed that in the case of Lake Ohrid this process was delayed by its great depth and small sediment input from its filtered spring inflows. Moreover the Ohrid-Korca graben to the south of the lake is still tectonically active and might compensate sedimentation by subduction. In contrast to Lake Ohrid, Lake Prespa is likely to have turned dry several times in its history, as a result of its karstic underground. In 2008, Macedonian media reported that international experts will be researching the lake in order to determine its age
Lake Ohrid is the largest and most beautiful of Macedonia’s three tectonic lakes. Its astonishingly clean, clear waters together with the serene stillness of its mountain setting have captivated visitors since prehistoric times. The lake is enormous, at some 30 kilometers (18 miles) long and up to 288 meters (945 feet) deep. While the lake is fed by water from three rivers, most of Ohrid’s water comes from another lake- Prespa, on the other side of the Galicica Mountain. Being at a higher elevation, Prespa spills its water down to Ohrid through mountain springs, the most important being Ostrovo near the monastery of St Naum, and Biljana near Ohrid town. With its unique flora and fauna characteristic of the tertiary period (2-4 million years ago), Ohrid is one of Europe’s great biological reserves. Most of the lake’s plant and animal species are endemic and unique to Ohrid. The most famous among these are two types of Ohrid Trout (letnica and belvica, in Macedonian). Other unique Ohrid creatures include two types of eel as well as the bleak, whose scales are used for making the well-known Ohrid pearl. This treasured jewel is produced according to a secret method passed down from generation to generation. Sport fishing attracts many passionate fishermen from Macedonia, Europe and the world. In 1980 Lake Ohrid was proclaimed a place of world cultural and natural inheritance by UNESCO. Ohrid is a city on the eastern shore of Lake Ohrid in the Republic of Macedonia. It has about 42,000 inhabitants, making it the seventh largest city in the country. The city is the seat of Ohrid municipality. Ohrid is notable for having once had 365 churches, one for each day of the year, and is referred to as the Macedonian Jerusalem. The city is rich in picturesque houses and monuments, and tourism is predominant. It is located southwest of Skopje, west of Resen and Bitola, and east of Elbasan and Tirana in Albania. A town of vast history and heritage, it was made a UNESCO heritage site in 1980. Ohrid is without a doubt the jewel in Macedonia's crown. Nestled between high mountains up to 2.800m and Lake Ohrid, it is not only a place of historic magnificence but also of outstanding natural beauty.
The ancient city of Ohrid, situated along the coast of the magnificent Lake Ohrid, is undoubtedly the most beautiful and most attractive Macedonian town, a pearl of old architecture and a treasury of valuable cultural and historical monuments. Located on the shores of Lake Ohrid, the town of Ohrid is one of the oldest human settlements in Europe. Its ancient name was Lichnidos, which was used to refer to the settlement of Ohrid and the lake. Built mostly between the 7th and the 19th century, it has the most ancient Slav monastery (St. Pantelejmon) and more than 800 icons of Byzantine style, painted between the 11th and the end of the 14th century, which are considered to be, after those of the Tretiakov Gallery in Moscow, the most important collection in the world. Ohrid could literally be called a city-museum - another typical mixture of the western and the oriental, a city with a special architecture, and modern, luxurious tourist facilities. One should have heard of the long tradition in making the famous Ohrid pearl, as well. Ohrid is a town which has always been of interest to every visitor to Macedonia. It is Macedonia's main tourist center, with first class hotels, modern tourist objects of international fame, camp sites, company hotels and holiday homes, as well as a large number of ancillary tourist, hotel and gathering facilities. The ancient city of Ohrid and the Ohrid region are recorded in UNESCO's directory of worlds cultural heritage and have been placed under environmental protection as an outstanding environment. The lake is fed by cold spring water that flows from Lake Prespa; it is one of the oldest and deepest lakes in the world, full of living fossils such as the Ohrid trout (Salmo letnica)and other species found nowhere else. The high mountain Galicica proudly rises between lakes Ohrid and Prespa with its imposing posture looking like an eternal guardian of the two lakes. The ancient name of Ohrid was Lychnydos, based on an ancient stone inscription that was found that reported of King Philip's II take-over of the city in 353 BC; the earliest evidence of the current name of the town is from 879. Apart from a theatre, Lychnidos also possessed other buildings such as an agora, a gymnasium, a boulevterion, a civil basilica and temples. Under Roman rule Lychnidos developed into a typical Roman city and an important transit point on the road Via Egnatia. the village of Trebenishta, on the road from Ohrid to Kichevo, a number of graves were found to contain burial gifts of remarkable intrinsic and artistic value. The site was discovered in 1918, and the treasures of seven graves were removed by Bulgarian soldiers to Sofia, where they can now be seen in the National Museum. Some of the more recent discoveries are in the National Museum of Ohrid and the rest are in the National Museum in Belgrade. Fourteen of the graves contained hundreds of gold, silver, and bronze vessels and jewelry, many of which had been imported from Greece along with a number of terracotta vessels decorated in Attic black-figure style.
Lake Ohrid straddles the mountainous border between the southwestern region of the Republic of Macedonia and eastern Albania. It is probably the oldest lake in Europe preserving a unique aquatic ecosystem with more than 200 endemic species. Lake Ohrid is the deepest lake of the Balkans with a maximum depth of 940 ft. It covers an area of 138 square miles. The lake drains an area of around 2600 km² and is fed primarily by underground springs on the eastern shore (about 50% of total inflow), with roughly 25% shares from rivers and direct precipitation. Over 20% of the lake's water comes from nearby Lake Prespa, about 10 km (6 miles) to the southeast and at 150 m higher altitude than Lake Ohrid. The water leaves Lake Prespa trickling through underground watercourses in the karstic landscape, where it is joined by mountain range precipitation and eventually emerges in numerous springs along the eastern shore and below the water surface of Lake Ohrid. The water leaves Lake Ohrid by evaporation (~40%) and through its only outlet, the Black Drin River, which flows in a northerly direction into Albania and thus to the Adriatic Sea. The relatively dry, Mediterranean climate and the small drainage basin of 2600 km² (catchment/lake surface ratio of ~7) of Lake Ohrid results in a long hydraulic residence time scale of ~70 yr. he Ohrid and Prespa Lakes belong to a group of Dessaret basins that originated from a geotectonic depression during the Pliocene epoch up to five million years ago on the western side of the Dinaric Alps. Worldwide, there are only a few lakes with similarly remote origins with Lake Baikal and Lake Tanganyika being the most famous. Most other, short-lived lakes have a life span of less than 100,000 years before they are eventually filled up with sediments. It is believed that in the case of Lake Ohrid this process was delayed by its great depth and small sediment input from its filtered spring inflows. Moreover the Ohrid-Korca graben to the south of the lake is still tectonically active and might compensate sedimentation by subduction. In contrast to Lake Ohrid, Lake Prespa is likely to have turned dry several times in its history, as a result of its karstic underground. In 2008, Macedonian media reported that international experts will be researching the lake in order to determine its age
Lake Ohrid is the largest and most beautiful of Macedonia’s three tectonic lakes. Its astonishingly clean, clear waters together with the serene stillness of its mountain setting have captivated visitors since prehistoric times. The lake is enormous, at some 30 kilometers (18 miles) long and up to 288 meters (945 feet) deep. While the lake is fed by water from three rivers, most of Ohrid’s water comes from another lake- Prespa, on the other side of the Galicica Mountain. Being at a higher elevation, Prespa spills its water down to Ohrid through mountain springs, the most important being Ostrovo near the monastery of St Naum, and Biljana near Ohrid town. With its unique flora and fauna characteristic of the tertiary period (2-4 million years ago), Ohrid is one of Europe’s great biological reserves. Most of the lake’s plant and animal species are endemic and unique to Ohrid. The most famous among these are two types of Ohrid Trout (letnica and belvica, in Macedonian). Other unique Ohrid creatures include two types of eel as well as the bleak, whose scales are used for making the well-known Ohrid pearl. This treasured jewel is produced according to a secret method passed down from generation to generation. Sport fishing attracts many passionate fishermen from Macedonia, Europe and the world. In 1980 Lake Ohrid was proclaimed a place of world cultural and natural inheritance by UNESCO. Ohrid is a city on the eastern shore of Lake Ohrid in the Republic of Macedonia. It has about 42,000 inhabitants, making it the seventh largest city in the country. The city is the seat of Ohrid municipality. Ohrid is notable for having once had 365 churches, one for each day of the year, and is referred to as the Macedonian Jerusalem. The city is rich in picturesque houses and monuments, and tourism is predominant. It is located southwest of Skopje, west of Resen and Bitola, and east of Elbasan and Tirana in Albania. A town of vast history and heritage, it was made a UNESCO heritage site in 1980. Ohrid is without a doubt the jewel in Macedonia's crown. Nestled between high mountains up to 2.800m and Lake Ohrid, it is not only a place of historic magnificence but also of outstanding natural beauty.
The ancient city of Ohrid, situated along the coast of the magnificent Lake Ohrid, is undoubtedly the most beautiful and most attractive Macedonian town, a pearl of old architecture and a treasury of valuable cultural and historical monuments. Located on the shores of Lake Ohrid, the town of Ohrid is one of the oldest human settlements in Europe. Its ancient name was Lichnidos, which was used to refer to the settlement of Ohrid and the lake. Built mostly between the 7th and the 19th century, it has the most ancient Slav monastery (St. Pantelejmon) and more than 800 icons of Byzantine style, painted between the 11th and the end of the 14th century, which are considered to be, after those of the Tretiakov Gallery in Moscow, the most important collection in the world. Ohrid could literally be called a city-museum - another typical mixture of the western and the oriental, a city with a special architecture, and modern, luxurious tourist facilities. One should have heard of the long tradition in making the famous Ohrid pearl, as well. Ohrid is a town which has always been of interest to every visitor to Macedonia. It is Macedonia's main tourist center, with first class hotels, modern tourist objects of international fame, camp sites, company hotels and holiday homes, as well as a large number of ancillary tourist, hotel and gathering facilities. The ancient city of Ohrid and the Ohrid region are recorded in UNESCO's directory of worlds cultural heritage and have been placed under environmental protection as an outstanding environment. The lake is fed by cold spring water that flows from Lake Prespa; it is one of the oldest and deepest lakes in the world, full of living fossils such as the Ohrid trout (Salmo letnica)and other species found nowhere else. The high mountain Galicica proudly rises between lakes Ohrid and Prespa with its imposing posture looking like an eternal guardian of the two lakes. The ancient name of Ohrid was Lychnydos, based on an ancient stone inscription that was found that reported of King Philip's II take-over of the city in 353 BC; the earliest evidence of the current name of the town is from 879. Apart from a theatre, Lychnidos also possessed other buildings such as an agora, a gymnasium, a boulevterion, a civil basilica and temples. Under Roman rule Lychnidos developed into a typical Roman city and an important transit point on the road Via Egnatia. the village of Trebenishta, on the road from Ohrid to Kichevo, a number of graves were found to contain burial gifts of remarkable intrinsic and artistic value. The site was discovered in 1918, and the treasures of seven graves were removed by Bulgarian soldiers to Sofia, where they can now be seen in the National Museum. Some of the more recent discoveries are in the National Museum of Ohrid and the rest are in the National Museum in Belgrade. Fourteen of the graves contained hundreds of gold, silver, and bronze vessels and jewelry, many of which had been imported from Greece along with a number of terracotta vessels decorated in Attic black-figure style.
