Church St. Mary, village Staravina
The church Dormition of the Mother of God in the village of Staravina is a characteristic example of a building from the rebirth period, when there is an enforced activity for renovation of the churches and monasteries.
Thanks to the economic strengthening of the people, not only did they activate the building industry, they also developed the fresco painters and wood carvers for the needs of the Christian population. On the territory of Mariovo in the XIX century, for a relatively short time period, some wonderful sacral buildings are going to bloom, buildings which are characteristic for that period. One of them is the church Dormition of the Mother of God, which was built in 1862, and fresco-painted in 1887.
It represents a single-nave church in a rectangular foundation. The church yard and the church are separated with a stone fence. In the interior of the church there is a high iconostasis made of wood in the later period. As a result of the grave demolishing of the church during the First World War, the stolenfresco-painting during the renewal is with a limited space. A special attention attracts the scene where the primal Slavonic teachers, the Thessalonica brothers Ss. Cyril and Methodius are painted in the prelate gowns, with a mitre on their heads. St. Cyril is represented as a middle-aged man with dark hair and beard, holding a cross in his right hand, and in his left an open scroll with a written text in old Slavonic language. St. Methodius is painted as an old man with white hair and beard who gives blessings with the right hand and a scroll with the alphabet in his left hand. It is supposed that the frescos are the work of art by the fellowship of the brothers Josif and Jakov Radevi from the Mijak village inLazaropole, who were also between the generation of fresco painters, disciples and followers of Dicho Zograf.
