PRILEP

Turkish Perlepe, town, Macedonia, south of Skopje on the Titov Veles-Bitola railway line. Prilep was an important centre during the Middle Ages. St. Nikola's Church (1299) has valuable frescoes; the Monastery of Archangel Michael and the Church of St. Dimitri both date from the 14th century, and the castle was built in the 14th century by a national hero, Marko Kraljevic. The fertile Prilep Basin, or Pelagonija lowland, is a centre for fruit and tobacco growing and leatherworking. Silica bricks and insulating materials are made from local diatomaceous earth. Pop. (1991) 98,327.