What is "lazaropole"

Lazaropole is a village in the Municipality of Mavrovo and Rostuša, Republic of Macedonia. Situated on a plateau at Mount Bistra and surrounded by beech and oak forest; at 1,350 m altitude, it is one of the highest settlements in the country.

The village is named after a local medieval hero, Lazar, who according to legend was the sole survivor of a Turkish attack on his village. The rest of the townspeople were killed in a cave where they had sought refuge, while Lazar, the only survivor, crawled outside and built a new town.

There are about 400 houses in the village. The older ones reveal the traces of the Mijaci highland building style. The village was the birthplace of numerous authors, educators, carvers, teachers, fresco and icon painters, and constructors . Especially picturesque are the village church of St. George, built in 1838, and the small churches in the forests near the village.