Traditional architecture | Kruševo, Macedonia

Mentioned in documents from the 15th century[citation needed], Kruševo is a living museum, famous for its traditional architecture, cultural sites, and legacy as the site of the great 1903 Ilinden uprising against Ottoman domination. The rebellion failed, but its memory is cherished in Macedonia even today, as a symbol of the national struggle for freedom and democracy; while it lasted only 10 days, the Kruševo Republic of revolutionary leader Nikola Karev represented a desire for self-rule under a modern European political system. Today an enormous monument on the hill above Kruševo marks the elusive dream of the Ilinden revolutionaries.

In the 19th century, Krushevo grew as a commercial center with connections not only in Macedonia but abroad. Local merchants, such as the office of Nitsiotas brothers and five other companies, were active in Vienna. In the 1860s, a Bulgarian municipality and Bulgarian school were established in the city. Subsequently, a Bulgarian girls school was opened and it operated simultaneously with the Greek schools in the town. A Romanian school started functioning in Krushevo in 1876.

During the Ilinden Uprising in 1903 the rebels proclaimed a short lived Kruševo Republic. Having suppressed the uprising the city was almost completely destroyed by the Ottoman army.The republic known as Kruševska republika was established here in 1903 during the Ilinden insurrection. One of the most important points in the Ilinden uprising was the declaration of the "Manifesto of Kruševo". It called for all the people of Macedonia regardless of their nationality and religion to fight together against the Ottoman Empire and live peacefully in a free country of Macedonia. In the early 20th century, Kruševo was a small town with a mixed population of 4,950 Bulgarians, 4,000 Vlachs (Aromanians) and 400 Christian Albanians, according to Bulgarian geographer Vasil Kanchov's statistics.[5] In 2002, Kruševo still retained a sizable Aromanian minority judging by census data: it was populated by 4,273 Macedonians, 1,020 Vlachs, 26 Serbs and 11 others.

There is in the area a monument called Mečkin Kamen (Bear's Stone). This was the place where Pitu Guli's band (cheta) was trying to defend the town of Kruševo from the Turkish troops coming from Bitola. The whole band and their leader (voivode) perished and Kruševo as well as many of the nearby villages were set to fire by the Ottomans.