Unofficial fan board for Toše Proeski (1981–2007): biography, songs, humanitarian work and the places that keep his memory
The "Bear's Stone", site of the 1903 battle • A few kilometres south of Kruševo
Mečkin Kamen — "Bear's Stone" — is the hill a few kilometres south of Kruševo where one of the defining battles of the 1903 Ilinden Uprising was fought. Today a monument marks the place, and it is one of the two sites where the Day of the Republic is formally celebrated each 2 August.
It is not a Toše site as such, but no visit to his home town is complete without understanding why Kruševo matters so much to Macedonians.
On 12 August 1903, after the proclamation of the short-lived Kruševo Republic, rebel forces under Pitu Guli tried to hold the approaches to the town against the Ottoman army. Pitu Guli and most of his men were killed at Mečkin Kamen; Ottoman forces entered Kruševo the same day, and much of the town was destroyed.
A monument stands where Pitu Guli fell, and a Second World War memorial by Dimo Todorovski is located at the same site. The battle has been commemorated in song well beyond the Balkans.
Every 2 August (Ilinden) official ceremonies are held here with wreath-laying, speeches and large crowds. Outside the holiday it is a quiet hillside with wide views.
