Zovikj

Category: Преданија - Legends - Μύθος

Zovikj is located in Bitola part of Mariovo, and according to the area, it is divided into two parts, old and new settlement.

Thus, the area of the I Zovikj touches the territory of Staravina and area of Zovikj II touches the state border line with Greece. It belongs to the municipality of Novaci. The village is hilly, at an altitude of 680 meters (refer to Zovikj II). The village is about 52 km away from Bitola. Area of both parts occupies a large space of 22.3 km2.

12-zovik

Zovikj Village is located in the municipality of Novaci, 50 km from Bitola. In the vicinity of the village of Zovikj Gradeshka Reka flows, having one of the most beautiful stone construction  in the Mariovo area is – the bridge of Zovikj.
In the past the name of the village has been B’zovikj because of the medicinal plant elderberry spred all over area of Zovikj. Around 30-40 families live in the village. The population dwelling in the village mainly deal with cattle breeding and agriculture. The village of Zovikj belongs to the most pictoresque villages of Mariovo. In the vicinity of the village of Zovikj the river Gradeshka flows, which springs in the mountain of Nidje and first empties in the river Satoka, then in Crna Reka. The river Gradeshka flowing in its stony bed has shaped a canyon with unusual beauty. The most impressive of everything related to the village of Zovikj is the story regarding the bridge on Gradeshka Reka.

The stone bridge is in the immediate vicinity of the village. Its purpose was to bridge the river Gradeshka. The bridge was built for the purpose of communication with the population of the inhabited territories across the river, i.e. the Mariovo villages of Staravina, Gradeshnica, Beshishte and Polchishte. In the medieval period there was probably a wooden bridge instead of the stone one that, as the villagers narrate, had collapsed in one occasion of transport due to overloading.