About Me
SVETI NIKOLE, as the central place of the Ovce Pole region, dates from the antic period. At the begging, it was located on the north-east part of the church St. Stephan. Because of the marshing land and unhealthy living conditions in this region at the end of the III century BC this area was deslocated on the right side of Sveti Nikole's River in the regions of Rudina, Sveti Spas and Recko Maalo. The possible antic name for this region was Probaton. In the VIIth century AD it changed its name in Ovce Pole. In the written recourses from the middle-century period Ovce Pole was populated area (fortress) and more widely as a region it was mentioned in the XIII century for the first time. In 1246, the Nikkei army, conquered Ovce Pole as well as all the other places in Macedonia.
Some years later (1255) the Nikkei Conqueror Teodor Lascaris went with his army to Strumica, through Ovce Pole, after the Veles garrison gave its army up to Lascaris. V. Mosin mentiones Ovce Pole's fortress as the one which was conquered by Lascaris.
In 1282, the Serbian king Milutin (1282-1321) conquered Ovce Pole together with Polog, Skopje, Zletovo and Pijanec.
In 1292, the church dedicated to the saint St. Nikolaj was built, in the same region which is still cold Ovce Pole.
The legend about the miracle healing of Stephan Decanski is connected with this church.
Sveti Nikole was mentioned also by the Dejanovci brothers in 1378 which was confirmed by the gifts in the monastery St. Pantelejmon in Sveta Gora.
In the sixties of XVII century AD, the Turkish writer of travel books Evlija Celebi was in Sveti Nikole twice.
The name of Sveti Nikole was developed through the centuries. At the beginning this area was called Probaton. It was replaced with Sveti Nikole, when the church St. Nikola was built in Ovce Pole, in the VII century AD. The settlement had two names during the Turkish occupation. The first was Sveti Nikole for Christian (Macedonian) inhabitants and the other one was Klisali for the Turkish.
In the first half of the XIX century AD, in 1845, Sveti Nikole had a buying day and became a small city. The trade of cereals and stock was developed and the number of population began to grow, so in 1900, it had around 2500 inhabitants.
Sveti Nikole had agricultural-handcraft function between two world wars. Today this function is changed with the development of other activities.Archeological researchesThe Ovce Pole valley was inhabited since the ancient -history, actually from the Neolith period, which is confirmed with the archeological researches. The different kinds of things, which are evidence for the Neolith culture, are discovered in these locations, for now: Barutnica (Amzibegovo), Rug Bair (Gorobinci) and Alin Dol (Nemanjici). There are indicators that near the river flows in the antic period there were bigger settlements (cities), as Bilazora, Almana and others.
The oldest inhabitants in these areas were Peonies, who were inhabited by the river Aksij (Vardar) and Strimon (Struma).
