Stone town of Kuklica

The stone town is an area consisting of over 120 stone pillars, located in the village of Kuklica, near Kratovo. [ [http://www.exploringmacedonia.com/default.asp?ItemID=C42D791DE738E046B3C544C635663B57 Exploring Macedonia] ]

Legends

There are two main legends surrounding the formation of the strange stone pillars in Kuklica. The most famous legend is that of a man who could not decide which of two women that he wanted to marry. So, the man planned to marry each women in the same day at different times. When the first wedding was in progress, the women to marry the man second went to see who was getting married on the same day as she. When she saw her future husband marrying another women, she cursed all in attendance at the wedding and turned them into stone. [ [http://www.exploringmacedonia.com/default.asp?ItemID=C42D791DE738E046B3C544C635663B57&5FB5C74C1F31C34FBFF2F9FF7585D1AF=5,first Exploring Macedonia] ]

Another popular legend is that there was once a forest in the area, but due to battles it was burned down. Then, the area became a wasteland. The temperatures were very low and when the army passed through the wasteland, all of the soldiers turned into rocks.

According to the local villagers, new figures appear every 5-6 years. [ [http://www.exploringmacedonia.com/default.asp?ItemID=C42D791DE738E046B3C544C635663B57&5FB5C74C1F31C34FBFF2F9FF7585D1AF=5,first Exploring Macedonia] ]

Location

Kuklica is located 8 km northwest of Kratovo. The stone formations are situated on the right bank of the Kriva River valley. The area has an altitude of 415-420 m and extends over an area of 0.3 square km.

Formation

Aside of mystic stories and legends, earth pyramids in Kuklica are formed as a result of natural erosion processes in Holocene, during last 10000 years. Differences in the erodibility of the volcanic rocks of the area are main factor for pillars creation. Thus, soft tuffs rocks in the base are overlay by solid, sturdy andesites and ignimbrites on the top, which are near 30 million years old. Andesites and ignimbrites, destructed by weathering, has role of "protection cope", protecting the tuffs in the base from water erosion. In such way, year by year increased mushroom like landforms — typical earth pyramids. Same time they was modified and modeled by weathering.. [ [http://www.kuklica.50webs.com?ItemID=C42D791DE738E046B3C544C635663B57&5FB5C74C1F31C34FBFF2F9FF7585D1AF=5,first kuklica.50webs.com] ]

ee Also

*Kuklica
*Kratovo

References