If I go to Bitola
If I go to Bitola (Ако одам во Битола)
I will walk on Sirok Sokak (Ќе прошетам по Широк Сокак)
And on “Dembel” bazaar (А на Дембел чаршија)
I will drink coffee (Кафе ќе се напијам)
…. (Folk song from Bitola)
People in Bitola say:
“If you were in Bitola and you haven’t walked through Main Street, then you have seen nothing.”
Širok Sokak (Широк Сокак – Wide Street) is the main and busiest street in Bitola, with numerous shops and bars. Located in the city center, as the local population says, this is the place where you go if you want to see someone in Bitola or to be seen.
On Sirok Sokak are located many shops, bars, restaurants, the theater, city museum, galleries, and cafes.
Sirok Sokak is the place where you can drink your morning coffee while, enjoying the oldest architectural works and buildings in the Balkans, which decorate the city since Turkish times.
Šhirok Sokak – old photos
Šhirok Sokak – today
The need, most of the public life to be in the center of the city, which always had an intense cultural and entertainment life, made this street a place where many representative buildings were built: The building of Bitola Museum, Army House, Hotel Epinal, House of Culture, the Catholic Church, Clock Tower, Yeni mosque, Isac mosque, Church “Sv.Dimitrij” and others.
Bitola Museum
House of Army – Oficerski – Bitola, Macedonia
Architecture – Sirok Sokak Bitola
Architecture – Širok Sokak Bitola
The architects from Bitola and Macedonia, with love and invention, made a perfect connection between the various European styles and domestic constructing tradition. Thus, they achieved remarkably harmonious relations, harmony lines, noble simplicity, functionality, feeling of elegance and taste.
In fact, Širok Sokak is recognizable everyday Bitola street space, where many of virtues and habits of Bitola can be seen, often loved and hated, welcoming and sending various common and prominent people: kings and emperors, sultans and Grand Viziers, bishops and missionaries.
Aldo the name of this street was changed many times, according to the various rulers: Abdul Hamid street (Hamidi, Hamidie – during Turkish rule), King Peter (During Serb rule), King Boris (during Bulgarian rule in WW2), Marshal Tito street (during the state Yugoslavia), the local name of the street stayed the same (which today is official) and Sirok Sokak today is the most representative feature of the city of Bitola.
