MEČKIN KAMEN
The "Bear Rock" site (Мечкин Камен) is a national historical landmark and an important base for paragliding jumps. It lies on the Birinska plateau, at an altitude of 1,443 m, and enjoys a grandiose panorama over the Pelagonian plain. It can be reached by following the R 1306 towards Demir Hisar and Bitola, then taking the first road on the left after the Makpetrol petrol station. This is where the Battle of Mečkin Kamen took place on August 12, 1903, ten days after the start of the Ilinden Uprising. The last 300 Kruševo insurgents fought to the death against the surrounding Ottoman troops. Since 1983, the site has been adorned with an 8 m-high statue. It depicts one of the insurgents, the Aromanian hero Pitu Guli (1865-1903), frozen in mid-exertion, throwing a huge rock. The plinth bears the words "freedom or death" (Слобода или Смрт), the slogan of all anti-Ottoman insurrections in the Balkans. This was the last major statue by Dimo Todorovski (1910-1983), whose works can be found mainly in the Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje. Mečkin Kamen hosts a Republic Day national holiday ceremony every August 2. The place owes its name to a legend according to which farmers managed to kill a huge bear living here in a fierce battle. From now on, no more risk. Mečkin Kamen is renowned for its views, picnic spots and is one of the best paragliding sites in the world.
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