Byzantine churches and Samuel's Fortress . . .     Church of Saint Sophia (Agia Sophia)                                    Church of Saint Clement (Agios Klimentas) The Church of Saint Sophia (Macedonian: Црква Света Софија, romanized: Crkva Sveta Sofija) is a church in Ohrid. The church is one of the most important monuments of North Macedonia, housing architecture and art from the Middle Ages. The current church was built on the foundations of a metropolitan cathedral demolished in the first decade of the 6th century by the barbarian invasions that brought the early Slavs into the region. The next church was built during the First Bulgarian Empire, after the official conversion to Christianity. Some sources date the building of the church during the rule of Knyaz Boris I (852 – 889). It was basically rebuilt in the last decade of the 10th century as a patriarchal cathedral in the form of a dome basilica, after the replacement of the capital of Bulgaria in Ohrid, during the reign of Tsar Samuil, when the church was the seat of the Bulgarian Patriarchate, an autocephalous Patriarchate. Later it became a seat of the Archbishopric of Ohrid, under the Patriarchate of Constantinople until the 18th century. It was converted into a mosque during the rule of the Ottoman Empire. The interior of the church has been preserved with frescoes from the 11th, 12th and 13th century, which represent some of the most significant achievements in Byzantine painting of the time. The main part of the church was built in the 11th century, while external additions were built by Archbishop Gregory II in the 14th century. In November 2009, the Macedonian Orthodox Church adopted a new coat of arms with the church of St. Sophia as a charge on the shield. A detail from the Church of Saint Sophia is depicted on the reverse of the North Macedonian 1000 denars banknote, issued in 1996 and 2003. The Church of Saint Clement of Ohrid (Macedonian: Соборна црква - Свети Климент Охридски) is located in Ohrid. Saint Clement of Ohrid (Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian: Свети Климент Охридски), 830-840 – 916 was one of the first medieval Bulgarian saints scholar, writer and enlightener of the Slavs. He was one of the most prominent disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius and is often associated with the creation of the Glagolitic and Cyrillic scripts, especially their popularisation among Christianised Slavs. He was the founder of the Ohrid Literary School and is regarded as a patron of education and language by some Slavic people. He is considered to be the first bishop of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, one of the Seven Apostles of Bulgarian Orthodox Church since the 10th century, and one of the premier saints of modern Bulgaria. The mission of Saint Clement was the crucial factor which transformed the Slavs in then Kutmichevitsa (present day Macedonia) into Bulgarians. Saint Clement is also the patron saint of North Macedonia, the city of Ohrid and the Macedonian Orthodox Church.                                                                                 Samuel's Fortress Samuel's Fortress is a fortress in the old town of Ohrid, North Macedonia. It was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire during the rule of Tsar Samuel of Bulgaria at the turn of the 11th century. Today, this historical monument is a major tourist attraction and was heavily restored in 2003 with the addition of entirely new battlements where none had survived. According to recent excavations by Macedonian archaeologists, it was contended that this fortress was built on the place of an earlier fortification, dated to the 4th century BC, which was probably built by King Philip II of Macedon. During the late 900s, King Samuil of Bulgaria restored the fortress by rebuilding it into a medieval style stronghold which still stands as is today.