National Workshop for Handmade Paper, Ohrid

Master Guttenberg would have loved Ohrid's National Workshop for Handmade Paper. Not only do they have an exact replica of the Master's printing press, they make their own paper in the old way. They create the pulp to be used and press and dry it. Nothing electronic, not a place for computer nerds. Here, everything is crafted by hand.

The replica 15th century press is one of the only two known to exist in the world. The Workshop staff print copies of historical documents, books and etchings and drawings. They readily demonstrate paper making and printing by hand.

The art of paper making (non-papyrus), is said to have originated in China in the 2nd century BC. Paper making began in Macedonia in the latter half of the 16th century in the Monastery of St. Naum. The National Workshop continues the time-honored methods of paper making. In their small museum they sell handmade paper gift products.