The Monastery of Immaculate Mother of God is a Macedonian Orthodox monastery situated near the city of Kicevo, North Macedonia. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Mother of God.
It was founded before the middle of the 16th century and in the 1570s a stone church was built on the site of the present church. In 1843, the monastery was burnt down by Albanians from Debar, but the church remained standing. The church was demolished by order of Hegumen Hadji Teodosius to build a new church and other monastery facilities. The icons of the present church were made between 1848 and 1880, many of them were created by the painter Ditscho Zograf.
In 1924 Dositej, later the first Archbishop of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, became a monk in this monastery. The monastery is also famous for the legend of the 'flying icon' that was moved three times to another monastery and, allegedly, miraculously returned by itself to the original place, guided by a ray of light. The feast of the monastery is Mala Bogorodica, (Birthday of Virgin Mary on September 21).
References:La Hougue Bie is a Neolithic ritual site which was in use around 3500 BC. Hougue is a Jèrriais/Norman language word meaning a \'mound\' and comes from the Old Norse word haugr. The site consists of 18.6m long passage chamber covered by a 12.2m high mound. The site was first excavated in 1925 by the Société Jersiaise. Fragments of twenty vase supports were found along with the scattered remains of at least eight individuals. Gravegoods, mostly pottery, were also present. At some time in the past, the site had evidently been entered and ransacked.
In Western Europe, it is one of the largest and best preserved passage graves and the most impressive and best preserved monument of Armorican Passage Grave group. Although they are termed \'passage graves\', they were ceremonial sites, whose function was more similar to churches or cathedrals, where burials were incidental.