There are about 1,200 churches and 425 mosques in Macedonia, including monasteries, although only a few of them are still operational. During the war several were damaged by bombings and violence between different ethnical groups and stand today as abandoned grim reminders of the fighting.

One of the more famous monasteries is the female monastery of St. Joakim Osgovski in the north-eastern part of the country, just outside the town of Kriva Palanka, housing only a single nun in the off-tourist season.

St. Naum by the Ohrid lake is the largest still operational monastery in the country, housing some 40 monks.

Aiming at being able to apply for membership to the European Union within the next decade, Macedonia is still suffering from the internal conflict wich arose between its different ethnic groups in 2000-2001.

Kids play soccer on a field overviewing the capital, Skopje.

Most of those churches damaged during the war in the north-western areas of the country are often replaced or rebuilt as mosques by the now dominating Albanian community.