Plaošnik or simply Plaoš is an archaeological site and holy place in Ohrid, 250 meters

below Samuil's Fortress. In the future, the whole complex will have konaks (mansions) as
in the time of Saint Clement of Ohrid, together with several surrounding objects.

The church was built by St. Clement in the year 893 on the foundation of an early
Christian basilica, and dedicated to St. Panteleimon. It was here that the Ohrid Literary
School, a center of Slavonic literary and cultural activity where more than 3,500 disciples
were educated. St. Clement was buried in this church, in the tomb which was built by his
own hands.

After the advent of the Ottoman Empire, St. Clement’s church was converted into a
mosque, known as the Imaret Mosque, of which only a small enclosure remains. The
mosque was built as an endowment and a memorial by Sinan Chelebi, member of the
distinguished Turkish family of the Ohrizade. The Imaret Mosque was torn down in 2000
with the reason given that it was constructed over the remains of a church in the Plaošnik
area and the former mosque was added to the damaged religious buildings list compiled
by the Islamic Religious Community of Macedonia.
Apart from the church's many reconstructions during the time of the Ottoman Empire, it
has undergone extensive reconstruction and excavation in the contemporary period. The
most recent restoration started on 8 December 2000 and was completed by 10 August
2002. Most of Saint Clement's relics were translated to the church.
Baptistery On Plaošnik has been discovered the baptistery of the five aisle basilica with
hooked crosses (swastikas) on the mosaic floors which date from the period between 4th
and 6th century. It is assumed that this early Christian basilica at Plaoshnik upon which
the Kliment’s monastery was built in the 9th century, was dedicated to St. Paul the
Apostle who preached Christianity in Lychnidos (present-day Ohrid) in the 1st century
A.D.

On 10 October 2007, a deposit of approximately 2,383 Venetian coins was discovered by

archaeologists while excavating the monastery. A prominent archaeologist of the
Republic of Macedonia, Pasko Kuzman, stated that the coins are of special significance
because they indicate that Ohrid and Venice were commercially linked.

The Ancient theatre of Ohrid of the Hellenistic period was built in 200 BC and is the only
Hellenistic-type theatre in the country. It is unclear how many people the original theater
used to seat, as only the lower section still exists. The open theater has a perfect
location: the two hills that surround it keep it protected from winds that could interfere
with acoustics during performances.
During Roman times, the theater was also used for gladiator fights. However, since the
theater was also a site of executions of Christians by the Romans, it rapidly turned to a
highly disliked site by the locals. In fact, as a result of this dislike, the theater was
abandoned and buried by the locals after the demise of the Roman Empire. This
allowed for most of the structure to be well preserved, only to be uncovered accidentally
in the 1980s. Namely, during construction work around some of the houses in the area,
large stone blocks with carvings of the Greek god Dyonisius and the muses were showing
up, which led archaeologists to believe that a Greek theater (Dyonisius and the muses
were related to the performance arts) must have been located nearby.
Since the late 1980s, the theater is again a site of public performances, such as plays,
concerts, operas, ballet performances. Recently, high-profile cultural performances such
as those by the Bolshoi and José Carreras take place each summer as part of the Ohrid
Summer Festival.