Built near the Dragor River, the Old Bazaar, and the primary school St. Kiril and Metodij, the church St. Mary belongs to sacral buildings which are common and characteristic of the nineteenth century.
It is one of the famous churches in Bitola, built 1870 and consecrated in 1876. As it is known, in the certain democratic changes which began to occur in the Ottoman Empire, in the middle of the XIX century, the advanced citizenship in Bitola, used the opportunity to build a church in the Yeni Male area (Јени Мале -New neighborhood).
The location was particularly suited because it was in the Bazaar near the fish stores.
The initiative was raised by prominent Bitola citizenship, and on the place of the Pepper An, the location was bought by the famous local physician Dr. Constantine Mishajkov.
At the start, the church resembled an ordinary object, and later it was enlarged and received its today’s form.
This temple is famous for its iconostasis, considered to be the work of the famous Miak masters. In essence, this iconostasis is made from two other. Their incorporation into this space has its own prehistory. During the World War I in the villages Trnovo and Magarevo near Bitola, ie, the local churches “Holy Mary” – built-in 1854 and “St. Great Martyr Demetrius “- built in 1834, suffered major damage from military actions that were fought among French and Bulgarian armies (1916-1918). Both churches had a valuable iconostasis, which was dismantled by the Bulgarian army during their retreat. Luckily the Bulgarian army didn’t succeed to take them away, and by an unknown decision, they ended into the church St. Mary in Bitola.
Of today’s iconostasis particularly important is the arc, located above the Royal Doors, with modeled figures of Jesus Christ and the Twelve Apostles, developed in the nineteenth century.
In recent years, particular attention has been paid to the interior of the church and it’s painting which got its distinctive look.
