Museum on the water


The museum on the water on Ohrid lake is an unconventional museum of Macedonia , which is dedicated to the life of the inhabitants of a fishing village that existed 3 thousand years ago.

A bit of history

It is located in the resort town of Ohrid , in the Bay of Bones, which got its name due to the fact that once it found a lot of bones, the origin of which could not be determined accurately: battle, execution or burial - it is still not clear. The settlement looked like a wooden decking 20 meters from the shore, on which rows of small houses with a thatched roof were located. A small wooden island connected the bridge with a bridge.

Surprisingly, in the fishing village people lived only in the summer, when there were wonderful conditions for fishing. Herodotus wrote in his essays that there were a lot of fish in the lake, it was almost scooped up with deep earthenware.

The first traces of the existence of the village were discovered in 1997. At the bottom of the lake, researchers saw the remains of decking, a bridge, houses and household items: dishes, fishing gear, skeletons of large cattle and so on. The finds were so unique and valuable that they gave an opportunity to fully see the life of the village.

What can I see in the museum?

Historians together with archaeologists have tried to create a museum that would, as far as possible, resemble a real fishing village. In addition, not only fishermen lived there, but also craftsmen, therefore the found objects of everyday life look quite interesting and, one might say, unique. Some of the finds date back to the 15th-16th centuries. First of all, they are made of wood, ceramics and stone. Artisans left their best works in their homes.

Inside the houses are arranged as it was three millennia ago: wooden furniture, animal skins as home decorations, clay and ceramic kitchen utensils, fishing tools and much more. Visitors to the museum can see a loom of those times, a children's lullaby and all those things that no mistress could manage without. In addition, the dwellings themselves are built of a mixture of clay and water and have a round shape. That's what they did 3 thousand years ago, so the atmosphere in them is very close to the original.

How to visit?

Unfortunately, public transport does not go here, so you can get there only by car on the highway 501 or as part of the tour group. In Ohrid itself, there are also many interesting sights , among which tourists sing out the churches of Hagia Sophia and the Most Holy Theotokos Perivleptos , as well as the ancient amphitheater and one of the most important fortresses of Macedonia , the fortress of Tsar Samuil .