Ohrid is a city in western Macedonia, on the eastern shore of Lake Ohrid. It has about 41 thousand inhabitants. The city is rich in picturesque houses and monuments, and tourism is predominant. Historical names include Ochrida, Okhrida, and Achrida.
The city was founded during classical antiquity with the name Lychnidos. It was located along the Via Egnatia, which connected the Adriatic port Dyrrachion (today Durrės) with Byzantium. Archaeological excavations (e.g., the Polyconhous Basilica from 5th century) prove early adaption of Christianity in the area. Bishops from Lychnidos participated in multiple ecumenical councils.
The name Ohrid first appeared in 879. Around 1000 Ohrid was capital of the (West-)Bulgarian empire for a short while. Above the city still remain the ruins of the stronghold of Tsar Samoil. As an episcopal city Ohrid was an important cultural center within the Bulgarian empire during the Middle Ages, which still can be seen in the numerous churches and monastery buildings.
In the monasteries around Ohrid numerous religious manuscripts were written since the 9th century, which mark the beginning of Old Slavonic as a written language. During the rule of the Ottomans there was a Patriarch until the 18th century, responsible for the major part of Orthodox Christians at the Balkan Peninsula.
This is supported by Basil of Ochrid, who states that women in general were thought to have too great a predilection for bedecking themselves in unsuitable finery to enhance their charms, and confirms the historians' account of Bertha's disinterest in adornments and of her inner virtue which far outweighed her external magnificence.
In addition, it seems probable that she was not considered to be properly fulfilling her role as empress, who was expected to act alongside the emperor as the focal point of imperial ceremonial, and was a vital pivot for ceremonies involving the women of the court.
[[21]]Basil of Ochrid, 'Laudatio Irenae Augustae,' 311-30, esp. 316-25.
It is one of the peculiarities of Ochrid that, though it is a very poor town, all day long little boys run about with trays of delicious rolls made from fine white flour.
The old town of Ochrid on its hill is stuck as thickly with churches as a pomander with cloves, and there are several churches in the new town that lies flat on the lake shore.
All the other churches in Ochrid have their devotees who can worship happily nowhere else and who speak of them with a passion which has something animal in it, something that one can imagine a beast feeling for its accustomed lair.
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