Resen, 18 March 2024 (MIA) - Reconstruction has begun on the old Dimitar Vlahov School in Ljubojno, which will be repurposed into a Center for the Promotion of the Macedonian Language. Minister of Culture Bisera Kostadinovska Stojchevska said Monday that rehabilitation works on the building that hosted the first lessons in Macedonian language on 15 November 1944 will be completed by the end of 2025.

During today's inspection of the project, Minister Kostadinovska-Stojchevska said that experts from the Institute for the Protection of Monuments of Culture and Museum - Bitola worked patiently, devotedly and with professionalism in fulfilling numerous necessary steps to realize the vision of a modern center for the promotion of Ljubojno, Prespa, and Macedonian language and identity.

"As a generation, we fulfill the duty to preserve the architectural heritage that this old school brings to the history of Macedonian art, and its educational and social role in the education of the Macedonian people. The Center for the Promotion of the Macedonian Language will help show our reverence to all professors and students who were educated here since the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century," Kostadinovska Stojchevska stressed.

She recalled that the project began with the declaration of Ljubojno village as a protected monument, after which reports and projects were drawn up in order to obtain construction permits.

"The Government, Culture Ministry, Institute and Museum in Bitola wholeheartedly pledged to make the building come alive in honor of the Macedonian artists and workers, and in honor of those whose memory of the old school days are more than just memories. The Center will be our joint monument, which at the end of 2025 we will proudly say that we have fulfilled the promise," Kostadinovska Stojchevska noted.

Last year the Government decided to repurpose the old Dimitar Vlahov School in Ljubojno into a Center for the Promotion of the Macedonian Language. The building has historical value because on November 15, 1944 lessons in Macedonian were first held in Ljubojno, Prespa. Its reconstruction and revitalization into a Center for the Promotion of the Macedonian Language was initiated by the Institute and Museum in Bitola. ssh/ik/

Photo: MIA