The City of Ohrid, as a “Natural and Cultural” World Heritage Site, is one of the four cities that is implementing a digital system for managing, protecting and promoting Cultural Heritage, as part of the IRC-HERMES project(Interreg Balkan-Mediterranean Programme).
For the development of the platform, the historic buildings and monuments in Ohrid were assessed and digitized. In a period of two months 20.11.2019 – 20.01.2020, our team of Architects were out on the streets registering the historic buildings and monuments in Ohrid.
130 historic buildings, including residential, commercial and sacral types of buildings, were stock in the registering application. The fieldwork included visual observation of the buildings, as well as taking photographs of the architectural and structural elements and the pathology issues of the buildings.
The team enjoyed the fieldwork outside the office, besides the cold and windy weather. The people that are taking care of the churches were very warm and welcoming. They provided the team with information about the restoration of the churches and the problems they are facing while maintaining the building. Often, the team was offered coffee or tea and the best coffee break they had was at Kaneo church with a million-dollar view and an interesting talk with the people visiting the church.
The Christian buildings are prone to regular restoration work, and we may say that they are in a relatively good condition.
However, the fresco-painting in the churches is in danger since it is exposed to moisture, which is greatly due to the changes of the microclimate of the building, which is a result of the usage of inappropriate restoration and refurbishing works. In order to preserve these buildings, the same has to be regularly maintained.