Historical overview of Tetovo

Between the Sharr Mountain, Thati Mountain, Zheden, Vlanica and Bukuvik lies the Polog valley, 55 km long, and 8–12 km wide. At the foot of Sharr Mountain and the picturesque shore of Balltepes (Honey Hill), near the banks of the Shkumbim River, lies the city of Tetova.

Stretching into the central part of the Polog Valley, Tetovo has historically been of great economic and strategic importance, and for this reason many rulers in the distant and recent past tended to own this strategic region.

There are also convenient links to neighboring regions, such as the Derven Gorge and the hilly region of Grupcin, which lies to the southeast, through which Polog communicates with Skopje area and beyond. To the southwest, through the town of Gostivar and some mountain ridges it connects to Kicevo and the town of Dibra, and finally via the regional Tetovo-Ferizaj road that lies on the plain, while only a small part, mainly the old part of the town, is located at Balltepe. The absolute altitude of the city is between 450–500 meters above sea level.

In late antiquity and early medieval times, Tetovo was badly damaged. In the 11th century it is distinguished among other settlements. In the XIII-XV centuried, Tetovo is mentioned as an urban place, with the development of handicrafts and agriculture. Tetovo represents a rich treasure of ethnocultural, material and spiritual heritage of different historical periods. The cultural and historical heritage of the city of Tetovo represents the totality of spiritual and material values ​​created during its history.

These values ​​reflect the social, economic, political, religious and cultural development of Tetovo’s past, as well as the centuries-long struggle to preserve its ethnic, cultural and linguistic identity. Tetovo is a city with a rich cultural-historical tradition, a city with a large number of cultural and historical buildings such as the Profane and Sacred.

With the Ottoman-Turkish invasion of the Balkan Peninsula in the 14th and 15th centuries, the Ottomans established their own administration, where Tetovo became an administrative and cultural center in the Polog valley, the construction and development of the city with oriental influence began. Through construction and culture, begins the construction of various objects of sacred, economic and social character. Many monuments of religious character were built in Tetovo, such mosques, shrines and tekke.

At the same time, objects of economic and social character, such as caravanserai, inns, hammams, public fountains, bridges, etc. Most of these buildings are very old and date from the beginning of Ottoman rule. The wealth of these architectural objects speaks to the cultural and spiritual development of the local population.

In the memoir of Mehmet Kuklin Bey (1436), it is said that there were many shops of various kinds. With a burgeoning cultural development, with the erection of numerous monuments, such as those of the Islamic community and those of the Orthodox community, Tetovo was a developed cultural center not only in these areas but also in the wider Balkans.

Tetovo was center of trade and handicrafts with an intensive development in the first half of the XIX century, up to the Balkan Wars. After the Balkan Wars Tetovo stagnates in its cultural development and afterwards after the Second World War Tetova received a rapid cultural development.