Kochani

Overview

City overview

Meet Kochani.

A grounded introduction to the city, its landscape, people, history and wider municipality.

Kochani spreads along the northern side of its fertile valley, where the Kochani River leaves Osogovo and the plain opens toward Bregalnica. The town rises from about 350 to 450 metres, with Lake Gratche in the gorge above it and Ponikva’s beech forests much higher on the mountain.

The name is first recorded in 1337. Under Ottoman rule the settlement grew around trade, water and rice cultivation; the surviving towers recall that older town, while the 1926 railway and post-war factories connected Kochani to a wider industrial economy.

The 2021 census counted 31,602 people in the municipality and 24,632 in the town. Rice remains the strongest shared symbol—seen in paddies, family recipes and the Days of Rice—while geothermal water, music, football and the bold mosaics of the Monument to Freedom tell other parts of Kochani’s character.

Twenty-seven villages complete the municipality, from rice-plain communities such as Grdovci, Trkanje, Dolni Podlog and Orizari to Osogovo villages such as Beli, Pantelej, Polaki and Jastrebnik. Kochani also carries fresh grief: the 16 March 2025 Pulse nightclub fire took 63 lives and injured more than 200 people, a loss the community commemorated together in 2026.

Geography

History

Interesting Facts

1. First written in 1337

   Although the valley was settled much earlier, the name Kochani first appears in a written document from 1337.

2. The railway changed the town in 1926

   Municipal history identifies completion of the railway in 1926 as a decisive improvement in Kochani’s links with the rest of the country.

3. Rice is grown in a rare European landscape

   The Kochani paddies support one of the relatively few established rice-growing traditions in southern Europe, celebrated as the valley’s ‘white gold.’

4. A high-temperature thermal basin

   Explored geothermal waters around Kochani reach roughly 50–80°C, with major self-flowing wells around Dolni Podlog and Banja.

5. Lake Gratche was built in 1959

   The small reservoir in the gorge above town has become a close, much-loved picnic and recreation landscape.

6. A 335-square-metre mosaic memorial

   The Monument to Freedom was completed in 1981 around an open-basilica form, amphitheatre and a vast mosaic cycle by Gligor Chemerski.

7. A city carrying recent grief

   The final casualty count cited in the Pulse nightclub fire case is 63 deaths and more than 200 injuries; Kochani marked the first anniversary in March 2026 and approved a permanent memorial.

People

• Haralampie Manchev Medicine

  Born in Kochani in 1898.

  Physician and pioneering Macedonian paediatric researcher, especially known for work on childhood pathology and kala-azar.

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• Blagoj Popov Public life

  Born in Kochani in 1919.

  Partisan veteran and senior Yugoslav Macedonian official who served as Skopje mayor after the 1963 earthquake.

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• Blagoj Veselinov Performance

  Born in Kochani in 1984.

  Macedonian film, television and theatre actor.

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• Andreja Naunov Music

  Born in Kochani.

  Pianist, conductor and répétiteur who has worked with the Macedonian Philharmonic and National Opera and Ballet.

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• Mario Krstovski Sport

  Born in Kochani in 1998.

  Professional football forward and former North Macedonia under-21 international.

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• Jovan Manev Sport

  Born in Kochani in 2001 and made his first senior appearances for the local club.

  North Macedonia international centre-back who began his senior career with Osogovo.

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• Andrej Lazarov Sport

  Born in Kochani in 1999 and died from injuries sustained while helping people escape the 2025 fire in his hometown.

  Professional midfielder remembered both for his football career and for trying to rescue others during the Pulse fire.

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Villages & Monasteries

27 villages and rural settlements are included.

• Bezikovo A small Osogovo village in Kochani Municipality. Source
• Beli A mountain-foot village above Kochani with nearby monastery heritage. Source
• Vraninci A small rural settlement in the municipality. Source
• Gorni Podlog A village in the fertile valley near the Podlog geothermal area. Source
• Gorno Gratche A village in the Kochani River gorge above Lake Gratche. Source
• Glavovica A small settlement in Kochani Municipality. Source
• Grdovci A large rice-plain village east of Kochani. Source
• Dolni Podlog A valley village known for high-temperature geothermal wells. Source
• Dolno Gratche A village near the lower part of the Gratche gorge. Source
• Jastrebnik A high Osogovo village in the municipality’s mountain country. Source
• Kostin Dol A small rural settlement near Kochani. Source
• Leski A sizeable village in the Kochani valley. Source
• Mojanci A rice-plain village in the municipality. Source
• Nebojani A small settlement in Kochani Municipality. Source
• Nivichani A village in the eastern part of the Kochani valley. Source
• Novo Selo A village close to the Kochani urban area. Source
• Orizari A major valley settlement whose name and surroundings are closely tied to rice growing. Source
• Pantelej An Osogovo village known for its St Panteleimon monastery complex. Source
• Pashadzhikovo A small rural settlement in the municipality. Source
• Polaki A scattered Osogovo mountain village with the St Saviour monastery. Source
• Preseka A high mountain settlement in Kochani Municipality. Source
• Pribachevo A village on the immediate outskirts of Kochani. Source
• Pripor A small rural settlement in the municipality. Source
• Rajchani A village associated with the nearby Svilanovo memorial landscape of Nikola Karev’s death. Source
• Rechani An Osogovo-side village in Kochani Municipality. Source
• Trkanje A large village adjoining Kochani and its rice fields. Source
• Crvena Niva A small settlement in the Kochani valley. Source

Photo Gallery (33)

• Kochani from above: apartment blocks and red-roofed houses spreading up a hillside beyond a green belt along a river.
• Kochani: a grassy river bank with a stone retaining wall, a row of young trees and a balconied apartment building behind.
• Kochani: a white church with a clock tower and two small domed side chapels, beside a lawn, a fountain and a paved path.
• Kochani: a wet paved square with red awnings, a low fountain and a tall block of flats with many balconies.
• Kochani: a white statue of a standing man on a plinth inscribed with Cyrillic text and two dates, among birch trees and a paved square.
• Kochani from above: dense red-roofed houses on either side of a green avenue, with dry brown hills behind.
• Kochani: skiers in bright jackets on a snowy slope, with a chairlift pylon, a small hut and frosted fir trees behind.
• Kochani at dusk: green-lit tower blocks and a large flat-roofed building beside a road with light trails.
• Kochani: two paragliders' canopies above a green slope, with long low buildings and wooded hills in the distance.
• Kochani: red-roofed houses and flats on a hillside under a pale sky, with a grassy ridge above.
• Kochani: a curved concrete monument decorated with a coloured mosaic, flanked by two low pillars, standing on a bare hilltop.
• Kochani: houses with red tiled roofs and apartment blocks on a hillside above a green park strip, a church tower among them.
• Kochani: two large houses with red roofs, balconies and satellite dishes among tall fir trees, behind a stone wall.
• Kochani: a road bending past a white railing, with two walkers in the foreground and red-roofed houses rising up the hill behind.
• Kochani from a height: red roofs, apartment blocks and a domed church above the town, with a hazy plain and mountains beyond.
• Kochani: a wide paved square with a long blue-edged pool and white umbrellas, with a tall brick block of flats behind.
• Kochani: a narrow stream through a grassy channel with stone walls, lined with trees, with buildings along the far side.
• Kochani: tall brown-and-white apartment blocks above a road and a white commercial building, with trees and a stream below.
• Kochani: a white marble monument with two portrait busts and an inscribed panel, in front of a columned building with tall glass windows.
• Kochani: houses and small apartment buildings with red and tiled roofs on a wooded slope, under a pale sky.
• Kochani: a grassy stream channel crossed by a railed bridge, with large trees and a tall apartment block beyond.
• Kochani from the air: houses, trees and a road curving along a green strip, with white flat roofs in the foreground.
• Kochani: a curving road along a grassy stream channel, with apartment blocks and red-roofed houses climbing toward hills.
• Kochani at night: lit apartment blocks and scattered town lights below a black sky.
• Kochani: a white church with a clock tower, a domed bell turret and several small domes, seen over a red-tiled roof and a wooden fence.
• Kochani from a hillside: red-tiled roofs, apartment blocks and a domed church, with a plain and mountains behind.
• Kochani from above: apartment blocks and red-roofed houses on both sides of a green avenue, with dry hills behind.
• Kochani: a park with winding paths and a flowerbed, a road, and rows of houses and flats rising up a hill.
• Kochani: a grassy stream channel winding between a street and autumn trees, with blue mountains in the distance.
• Kochani at dusk: lit apartment towers and a low flat-roofed building above a road with red light trails.
• Kochani: the White Dawns (Beli Mugri) Cultural Centre, a glass-fronted building above a paved square.
• Kochani: the Kočani River beside the White Dawns Cultural Centre, with a low bridge and a grassy bank.
• Kochani: a panoramic view of the town at dusk, with lit streets, a park strip and mountains beyond.