Plaošnik Archaeological Site, Ohrid (must see)

Barely 825 feet downhill from Samuel’s Fortress is the Plaošnik Archaeological Site, an extensive excavation and research area revealing successive layers of ancient Lychnidos and medieval Ohrid. At its center stands the reconstructed Church of Saints Clement and Panteleimon, built on the foundations of the church established by Saint Clement in the late 9th century.

Saint Clement arrived in the Ohrid region in 886 and established a religious and educational center at Plaošnik. He restored an earlier small Christian church and developed a monastery church dedicated to Saint Panteleimon, the early Christian martyr whose name means “all-merciful.” The Ohrid Literary School flourished here during the 9th and 10th centuries and became one of the great centers of early Slavic literacy and religious education.

Plaošnik was already an important Christian center centuries before Clement. Archaeologists have uncovered a large polyconchal church, a five-aisled basilica, two baptisteries, and richly decorated mosaic floors dating mainly from the 4th to 6th centuries. The mosaics contain geometric, floral, and animal motifs, including swastika forms—an ancient decorative symbol that long predates its notorious 20th-century use.

After the Ottoman conquest, Saint Clement’s church eventually disappeared beneath the Sultan Mehmed Mosque. Archaeological investigations in 1942–1943 uncovered the remains of Clement’s church and his tomb within the mosque ruins. In 2000, the remaining mosque structure was removed before the medieval church was reconstructed on its original foundations. Portions of the Islamic structure were retained in the archaeological presentation as evidence of the site’s Ottoman period. The nearby türbe of Sinan Çelebi also survives.

Excavations have continued to produce remarkable discoveries. On October 10, 2007, archaeologists uncovered a hoard of approximately 2,383 Venetian coins. Archaeologist Pasko Kuzman interpreted the find as important evidence of commercial connections between medieval Ohrid and Venice.