The church St. Nikola, village of Krupiste

At the north-eastern exit of the village of Krupiste, beneath the Stip-Kocani road, on the right bank of river Bregalnica, there is a medieval church dedicated to saint St.Nikola, and remains of a an old-Christian basilica were discovered underneath it.

St.Nikola’s church is a construction of modest dimensions, made of broken stone of unequal size and built-in elements of early Christian sculpture with encrypted signs and letters. It is a single nave church, with rounded arch and semi-circular apse on the outside. The entrance is on its west side.

Two inscriptions are preserved in the church. The first one reads that the church was built during the reign of bishop Makarie in 1625, and fresco-painted in 1627, while the second one mentions the name of master Isaija Debreli, who in 1880, when it is presumed that the porch of the church with semi-circled arch has been built, painted it and made certain interventions over the frescos of the naos. People wearing modern national costumes are noticeable in the fresco paintings of the porch, produced by this fresco-artist.

According to later research and conclusions by Blaga Aleksova, the origins of the church have been located in the time period between the 9th and the 10th century, and in 1975, during the latest excavations, it was discovered that the church was built on the foundations of an old-Christian three-nave basilica with the following dimensions: length of 16m and width of 14.9m.