THE FORTRESSES IN RN MACEDONIA IN FUNCTION FOR ENRICHING TO TOURIST OFFER

: The tourist potentials of the medieval fortresses in RN Macedonia as a medieval heritage in the context of cultural and historical tourism are often neglected, but the practice in other European and even in Balkan countries shows that this segment of history can be used at a very high level. The purpose of this paper is to explore the fortresses in order to enrich the tourist offer in RN. Macedonia. Archaeological excavations have identified about eighty medieval fortresses and other fortifications on the territory of the country. The mentioned fortified settlements appear in different time periods from prehistory, through antiquity to the Middle Ages. There is a generally accepted opinion that the formation of tourist cultural routes would lead to better protection and presentation of the cultural monument and their activation in use for tourist purposes. The formation of a new tourist product is a big step in the formation of an attractive tourist offer, and in this case it is the Macedonian medieval fortresses. In the framework of this paper, the research is aimed at a narrow selection of medieval fortresses that can offer attractive content to tourists. The analysis and evaluation uses known and recognized qualitative - quantitative and comparative research methods, procedures, criteria and activities for tourism valorization.


Introduction
Important for the identity of each community is the preservation of the architectural heritage with different Original Scientific Paper 10.5937/jouproman9-31818 dimensions of historical, cultural, aesthetic, artistic and other values.This multidimensionality is a specific form of material cultural -historical heritage of great importance in terms of improving the resourceful tourist offer on the territory of RN Macedonia. In general, the geographical area of Macedonia has gone through a long multi-millennium historical development, through different periods from prehistory, antiquity, the middle аges, the Ottoman period, Yugoslavia, to the present day.
However, the subject of our research are the old medieval fortifications throughout RN Macedonia that have long since lost their former functions and today we can recognize them as cultural and historical objects with resources that represent a significant potential for sustainable tourism development.
The elements with which they possess these cultural-historical objects can be identified as potential values for cultural, economic and tourist development of the locality, the municipality and beyond.It is a fact that many of these facilities are in poor condition, but there are some that can or already have their tourist function.
The choice of the topic is inspired by the need to promote part of the cultural and historical monumental past of RN Macedonia, which is in large numbers.
In the Republic there are about eighty registered medieval fortresses located in all parts, and most often in river gorges, along lakes and on hills near today's cities. (Mikulčić, 1996, Koco, 1996. The focus of the research is the evaluation and establishment of cultural tourist routes that aimed at protection and www.japmnt.com presentation of cultural and historical monuments, as well as their activation and use for tourism purposes. (Terzić, 2014; Mirić, Drešković, Avdić, Nezirović, 2017; Urošević, Aftić Rakitovac, 2017; Lečić, Mitković, Manić, 2017) The formation of cultural and tourist routes on the medieval fortresses is the most promising way to form a new attractive tourist product that would be constantly presented during tourist tours around the country.
Our research initiates the creation of several thematic routes to visit a dozen medieval fortresses located in Povardarje, in the western and eastern part of RN Macedonia.
We mention that if the state undertakes strategic projects for conservation and reconstruction of medieval fortresses, then tourism nationally would receive much more content and of course material benefits. For this to be a reality, it is necessary to develop a Strategy for conservation and restoration of medieval fortresses in RN Macedonia for the purpose of tourism.
In our research we will focus only on fortifications that have been preserved and restored, fortresses that are part of urban settlements, located near cities, located on major highways, that have conservation and restoration reports and fortresses that have important role for tourism promotion of the region.

Methodology
Evaluation of the tourist attraction of all those phenomena, objects and spaces that define the tourist value of medieval fortresses and fortified cities implies the systematic use of the following package of scientific quantitative and qualitative methods, such as: the method of observation; the historical method; statistical method; empirical method of cognition; analysis and synthesis; classification and comparison.
In order to adequately consider the subject of the research and to achieve the set goals, the procedure for tourist valorization is implemented by combining the abovementioned scientific methods. (Du Cros Hilary, 2000;2001;Kostić, 2011;Terzić, 2017) In RN Macedonia there are 82 sites with remains of old fortifications, which are mentioned in various historical sources.Most of the fortresses are examples of medieval fortifications and monumental complexes that in the given period were part of the local and regional history and as such are part of the European cultural heritage.Everyone needs archeological research and then conservation, restoration, protection, valorization and tourist presentation.
The subject of our research are 14 medieval fortresses and fortified places for which we present a short description, supported by three tables, fourteen photographs and one map. For tourist evaluation we use methods with several indicators, from which four tourist cultural routes emerge.

Geographical -historical characteristics of selected medieval fortresses
We divided the fortresses in tabular form by city municipalities, by tourist, statistical and geographical regions. The tables show that in the area of almost all city municipalities, in all ten tourist regions, in all eight statistical planning and in the three geographical regions there is one or more medieval fortresses (Table 1,  2).
This confirms the geographical presence of medieval fortifications on the entire territory of the country, which is a good precondition for the development of tourism.
From 82 medieval fortresses and other fortified places, we decided to briefly present 14  Stip Fortress or Isar is a medieval fortress in Stip. It is located in the western part of the city where the rocky hill Isar rises, 150 meters high. It is surrounded by steep slopes, on the west side with the bed of Bregalnica, and on the south with the bed of Otinja. The oldest remains are from the late antique period, it is assumed that the fortress was built in the early Middle Ages, due to the defensive and strategic needs of the city that lay at its foot. The fortress seen today dates back to the 14th century. (Koco, 1996;Mikulčić, 1996)Today there is a marked path to the fortress. When a tourist visit to Stip, it is recommended to climb on it from where a beautiful view extends to the city of Stip, the rivers Otinja and Bregalnica, but also wider. Every year on the Isar Fortress, on the religious holiday "Holy Forty Martyrs", a religious holiday "Chetrse" is practiced. This unique holiday event in 2013 is inscribed on the UNESCO list as an intangible cultural heritage. The fortress is planned to be renovated and adapted for a tourist visit. The oldest remains of a settlement at this place date back to prehistoric times -early copper age (chalcolite), and for a city from ancient times to the Middle Ages, ie to the 17th century when the fortress was completely abandoned. (Mikulčić, 1996;Travel guide Strumica, 2003;Pandevski, Stoev-Trnkata, 1967). According to the project for reconstruction of the site Carevi Kuli, it will be reconstructed and presented for a tourist visit with cultural activities (Old Town song "Under the towers of Strumica", Festival of old town songs and serenades "Under the towers of Strumica", etc.). (Rujak, 2016) Markovi Kuli is located near the city of Prilep. Remains have been discovered on the site, which indicate the existence of an early antique settlement. In the Roman period this small settlement expanded, and in the Middle Ages it was a fortress where the palace of King Volkashin and Marko was located. In the 15th century, life in the settlement disappeared completely. The site and the surroundings abound in numerous denudation forms (pillars, mushrooms, slabs, balls, ossicles, depressions), which represent an extraordinary sculpture of the relief. Due to that, the site has been declared a Monument of Nature. From the city to Markovi Kuli leads a touristly arranged, marked and lit path. Ramnishte on the right side of the river. Remains of ramparts have been preserved from all of them. On which of these ramparts is Prosek there is an opinion that it is Markova Kula or Kula -Strezov Grad. (Mikulčić, 1996;Koco, 1996;Malakovski, 1998). From all of them stretches a beautiful view of the gorge and the river Varda. All sites have been archaeologically excavated, but have not yet been conservated and reconstructed.
Gradishte (Grad) is a locality from the time of the enolite located on a hill above the village Grad in the Municipality of Delchevo in the eastern part of Macedonia. "Gradiste" is dated as a late antique city of Armonia. It is located 2 km from the highway Delchevo -Berovo, there is a signal next to it. The localitet is evidenced by findings of continuous life from the Bronze Age to the Middle Ages (Mikulčić, 1996;Koco, 1996). Today, the Three Towers of the fortress have been preserved and restored and is a tourist destination and be a curiosity to visitors. (Nacev, 2003) Roman 3 3,7 Value: 0-1 weak, 2 adequate 3 has potential; 4 very good, 5 excellent. * Fortress during conservation and reconstruction and for which there is a report for conservation and reconstruction; ** Fortress in which there is no conservation and reconstruction and for which a report for conservation and reconstruction is prepared.

Research results
Tourist valorization of the location is a qualitative -quantitative procedure of complex assessment of natural and anthropogenic values that are important for the development of various tourism activities and tourism, ie its attractiveness and potential for creating tourism products. Valorization of tourism is the determination or assessment of the values of tourist attractions, ie. assessment of the level of attractiveness of all phenomena, objects and landscapes that, among other characteristics, have the property of attracting tourists and that can be served to tourists in order to meet their (cultural or recreational) needs. The most effective method of valorization of tourism is a combined qualitativequantitative method, whose basic principles are synthesized through the possibility of comparing the tourist attraction of the same type (eg monument with monument), determining assessment elements, comparison that includes the most established motives, and applicability and the principle of complementarity.The procedure for valorization of tourism in the medieval fortresses mentioned in this paper is carried out through evaluation of the geographical location of tourism, artistic value, tourist value of the environment, attractiveness and recognition of tourism, level of construction and equipment and installation in the wealth of tourism (Kostic, 2011). The values for each parameter of tourism valorization have a range between 0 and 5. Two pragmatic propositions emerge from our evaluation of medieval fortifications: -The first proposal is tourist promotion of four tourist cultural routes: 1. Route North -South or Vardar: Skopje -Kozle -Veles -Demir Kapija; Route West: Skopje -Tetovo -Kicevo -Ohrid; 3.
Route West -East (Ohrid -Prilep -Veles -Stip -Vinica -Gradiste; -The second proposal is the preparation of a Strategy for conservation and restoration of medieval fortifications in the Republic of Macedonia. Macedonia in function of tourism. The strategy would include several sub-strategies prepared by experts in the field of archeology, construction, architecture, culture, tourism and others.

Conclusion
The selected medieval fortresses are tourist attractions in their respective regions and in RN Macedonia. Unfortunately, some of the investigated fortifications are not recognized at all as significant attractions for the tourism economy. Due to this fact, it is very interesting to analyze the potential of these unique historical sites as selected fortresses that can contribute to the overall development of tourism in these municipalities, regions and the country as a whole.
One of the most important concluding remarks is that the analyzed fortresses have a particularly high level of attractiveness and attractive environment. The dominant role is played by the Skopje and Ohrid fortresses, which receive the highest excellent value, primarily due to the complementarity of all the listed relevant values important for the development of tourism.The fortress Careni Kuli, Markovi Kuli in Prilep, Vinicko Kale are of very good value, and the Stip Isar, Tetovo Kale, etc. have high potential values. The other forts have slightly lower values due to the poor level of maintenance, some of them are without conservation and restoration activities and do not have adequate promotion.In general, all the mentioned fortresses have great historical significance on a national level, and accordingly a high tourist potential. This is one more reason why agencies and institutions for local and regional development must include these determinations in their tourism development strategies, travel agencies to promote the four tourist cultural routes and the state to start drafting a Conservation and Restoration Strategy as soon as possible, of the medieval fortifications in RN Macedonia in function of tourism.