Photographs of tourists in swimwear climbing the walls of the submerged church of „St. Nikola” in Mavrovo Lake have been spreading across social networks in recent days. The footage shows visitors scaling the outer structure of the temple, climbing onto the protruding slab and coming down steps set against the wall.

The post was published by Toni Calovski from Skopje and drew a large number of reactions in a short time.

An appeal that lists the institutions one by one

What makes this post different is not the outrage, but the list. The appeal is addressed to the mayor of the Mavrovo and Rostusa municipality, the communal inspectorate, police officers, the management of the Mavrovo National Park, and the institutions responsible for protecting cultural heritage.

The request is specific: an on-site inspection and a determination of who allowed this behaviour, whether the regulations protecting the site were breached, whether material damage was done, who is responsible for oversight and, if there are grounds, sanctions.

„This is not a beach, it is not a swimming pool and it is not a place for this kind of behaviour”, the post reads, followed by a series of questions - whether any oversight exists at all, whether anyone warns visitors that this is a church, and whether there are any rules on access around the building.

Who it is aimed at, and who it is not

The author is explicit on a point that is easy to distort. „The problem is not that tourists come from Germany, the Netherlands or any other country. Tourists are welcome”, he writes, adding that every visitor must respect the place they visit - its faith, culture and rules.

That is the difference between demanding order and demanding closure. Nobody is asking for the lake to be fenced off.

A risk that is not symbolic

Beyond the question of respect, there is an entirely material problem. The structure is compromised - it has stood in water for decades, with a visibly damaged concrete slab. Climbing on the building carries a real risk of further physical damage.

Citizens are also proposing solutions that require neither a law nor a budget: warning signs, more frequent checks and regular patrols nearby. For a site that has been among Mavrovo's most photographed symbols for years, that is an unusually modest list.

The silence is the part worth noting

At the time of writing there had been no official response from the Mavrovo and Rostusa municipality, the police, or any of the other institutions named.

The church is part of the cultural heritage and at the same time a tourist site with hundreds of visitors a day in August. Neither of those two statuses means anyone is actually looking after it on the ground. The sign people are asking for costs less than a single inspection visit - and to this day there has not been one of those either.