Pustec ( sq, Pustec; mk, Пустец) formerly known as Liqenas (1973–2013), is a village in

Pustec Municipality Pustec Municipality ( sq, Bashkia Pustec; mk, Општина Пустец, ''Opshtina Pustets''), previously known as Liqenas Commune ( sq, Komuna Liqenas) from 1973 to 2013, is a municipality in the Korçë County of Albania. The population at th ...

Korçë County Korçë County ( sq, Qarku Korçë, italic=unset), officially the County of Korçë ( sq, Qarku i Korçës, italic=unset), is a county in the Southern Region of the Republic of Albania. It is the largest by area and the seventh most populous of ...

, eastern

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and share ...

. Situated on the southwestern shore 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 Gree ...

, it is home to much of the Macedonian minority in Albania.

Geography

Pustec is located on the southwestern shore of

and is the nearest village to the island of Maligrad. It sits at an elevation of above sea level. To the northeast, along the lake, lies Shulin, while in the southeast is the village of Leska. Pustec and the surrounding region lie within the Prespa National Park.

History

The village of Pustec was mentioned in the Slepche Beadroll from the 16th century. The survey by Dimitar Mishev (D. Brancoff) from 1905 shows that the inhabitants of the village of Pustec ( bg, Пустец) were in the bosom of the

Bulgarian Exarchate The Bulgarian Exarchate ( bg, Българска екзархия, Balgarska ekzarhiya; tr, Bulgar Eksarhlığı) was the official name of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church before its autocephaly was recognized by the Ecumenical See in 1945 and th ...

. There were 400 Bulgarian Exarchists in the village. The French linguist André Mazon in his study on Slavic folklore in Albania from 1936 noted Pustec as a Bulgarian village in the region of Mala Prespa. In 1939, on behalf of 70 Bulgarian houses in Pusteets, Todor Postalov signed a request by the local Bulgarians to the Bulgarian

tsaritsa Tsarina or tsaritsa (also spelled ''csarina'' or ''csaricsa'', ''tzarina'' or ''tzaritza'', or ''czarina'' or ''czaricza''; bg, царица, tsaritsa; sr, / ; russian: царица, tsaritsa) is the title of a female autocratic ruler (mon ...

Giovanna Giovanna is an Italian feminine first name. It is the feminine counterpart of the masculine Giovanni, which in turn is the Italian form of John; it is thus the Italian equivalent of Jane, Joanna, Jeanne, etc. In Brazil, the feminine name Giovan ...

requesting her intervention for the protection of the Bulgarian people in Albania – at that time an Italian protectorate. In 1973, the official name of the village was changed to ''Liqenas'' by the Albanian government. In 2013, however, the original Macedonian name, ''Pustec'', was once again made official.Pustec poveke ne e Liqenas
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Demographics

The majority of the population are

ethnic Macedonians 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 identi ...

Culture

The village of Pustec is situated near two centuries'-old rock churches. The first, Saint Michael the Archangel, is situated on the Lake Prespa shore. Its oldest frescoes date from the 12th century. The other, St Nicholas, contains only fragments of its original frescoes.

People from Pustec

* Trajan Gjorgjiovski, partisan * Mitre Kolevski, partisan *

Edmond Temelko Edmond Temelko ( mk, Едмонд Темелко) is the former president of the Macedonian Alliance for European Integration. He has been mayor of the Pustec Municipality from local elections held in 2007 until 2019, before which he was council ...

, mayor of Pustec Municipality and president of the Macedonian Party

References

{{Pustec div Populated places in Pustec Municipality Villages in Korçë County