Residents of the remote village of Babino in North Macedonia have left their homes many years ago, but Stevo Stepanovski and his remarkable collection of 20,000 books still exist in this almost deserted valley.
The library was started by Stepanovski’s great-grandfather, who was first given his book collection by Ottoman soldiers in the late 19th century.
History books and novels in the Macedonian language, as well as books in Persian, Arabic, Turkish and Serbo-Croat, the main language of the former Yugoslavia, are part of the library.
The library also has original photographs taken by a journalist covering the First World War, antique maps and dictionaries covering several languages of the region.
Steve Stepanowski, 72, told AFP: ‘This is a village of education and enlightenment.’
He regularly greets visitors with a cup of coffee in his centuries-old homemade library.
This library has helped to make the villagers highly educated, a remarkable number of whom have become teachers.
A view of the remote village of Babino in North Macedonia, known as the ‘village of learning and enlightenment’ (AFP)
‘There is no home without a teacher’
Stepanowski said: ‘There was no house without a teacher.’
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But even this did not benefit the village. In the 1950s, the Yugoslav government called on teachers from the valley for a nationwide literacy campaign, effectively evacuating much of the population.
Like much of Southeast Europe, North Macedonia is also suffering from a shrinking population.
A trifecta of aging population, declining birth rates and mass migration have left many rural areas here deserted.
Babineau was particularly impressed by all this. Once more than eight hundred people lived here, but now there are only three permanent residents.
And now that Stepanowski’s children have also moved on after reaching puberty, they are determined to live in Babineau with their books.
History books and novels in the Macedonian language, as well as books in Persian, Arabic, Turkish and Serbo-Croat, the main language of the former Yugoslavia, are part of the library (AFP).
But a world comes to them and between 3,000 and 3,500 people visit the library a year.
Most of them are from nearby towns and villages or neighboring countries, but literary scholars and researchers also visit the library, along with travelers from Brazil, Egypt and Morocco.
Gus Sikolowski, a professor of music at a school in the capital Skopje, who recently visited Babinów, told AFP: ‘I am surprised that titles can be found here, which cannot be found in the city’s libraries. .’
Stepanowski also built a small amphitheater here for studies and concerts.
He said that they offer a calm environment for people to come and sit and experience.
‘If you want to discover the magic of books, you can do it in the best way here.’