Dolna Bela Crkva ( mk, Долна Бела Црвка, meaning ''Lower White Church''; sq, Bollocërkë e Poshtme) is a village in the

Resen Municipality Resen ( mk, Ресен ) is a municipality in southwestern Republic of North Macedonia. '' Resen'' is also the name of the town where the municipal seat is found. Resen Municipality is located in the Pelagonia Statistical Region. Geography The m ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

, north of

Lake Prespa The Lake Prespa is located on the tripoint of North Macedonia, Albania, and Greece. It is a system of two lakes separated by an isthmus: the Great Prespa Lake, divided between the three countries, and the Little Prespa Lake, mostly within Greece ...

. The village, located roughly from the municipal centre of Resen, has 237 residents.

Demographics

Dolna Bela Crkva has an Orthodox

ethnic Macedonian Macedonians ( mk, Македонци, Makedonci) are a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group native to the region of Macedonia in Southeast Europe. They speak Macedonian, a South Slavic language. The large majority of Macedonians identif ...

majority, with a significant Muslim

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...

and

Bektashi The Bektashi Order; sq, Tarikati Bektashi; tr, Bektaşi or Bektashism is an Islamic Sufi mystic movement originating in the 13th-century. It is named after the Anatolian saint Haji Bektash Wali (d. 1271). The community is currently led by ...

minority, of whom the latter are known locally as ''Kolonjarë''.Censuses of population 1948 - 2002
Sunni Albanians in Dolna Bela Crkva traditionally highlighted their religious identity over a linguistic one having closer economic and social relations with Turks and Macedonian Muslims in the region and being distant from Orthodox Macedonians. Over time these differences have disappeared through intermarriage, closer communal and cultural relations with Bektashi and other Sunni Prespa Albanian communities in the region. As of the 2021 census, Dolna Bela Crkva had 179 residents.Total resident population of the Republic of North Macedonia by ethnic affiliation, by settlement, Census 2021
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Gallery

File:Dolna Bela Crkva village 48.jpg, Sign on main road hailing entrance into Dolna Bela Crkva File:Dolna Bela Crkva village 29.jpg, Architecture of Dolna Bela Crkva File:Dolna Bela Crkva village 14.jpg, Dolna Bela Crkva village centre File:Dolna Bela Crkva village 24.jpg, Contemporary (left) and traditional (right) architecture of Dolna Bela Crkva File:Dolna Bela Crkva village 31.jpg, Streetscape in part of Dolna Bela Crkva File:Викиекспедиција Преспа 297.jpg, Orthodox church of Dolna Bela Crkva File:Dolna Bela Crkva village 27.jpg, Old village well (built 1888) File:Dolna Bela Crkva village 34.jpg, Cut firewood in a field of Dolna Bela Crkva File:Dolna Bela Crkva village 6.jpg, Fields of Dolna Bela Crkva File:Dolna Bela Crkva village 37.jpg, Apple orchard in Dolna Bela Crkva File:Dolna Bela Crkva village 1.jpg, Dolna Bela Crkva river File:Dolna Bela Crkva village 7.jpg, Fields of Dolna Bela Crkva

References

{{coord, 41, 02, N, 21, 01, E, display=title, region:MK_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Villages in Resen Municipality Albanian communities in North Macedonia