Bitola is an important administrative, cultural, industrial, commercial and educational centre in the south-western part of the Republic of Macedonia. The city is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba and Nidze mountains, just 15 km north from the border with Greece. The town is an important junction connecting the south of the Adriatic Sea with the Aegean Sea and Central Europe. It is known from the Ottoman period as the city of the consuls, as many European countries had consulates in Bitola. According to some sources Bitola is the second largest town in the country The Omri Annual Survey (1996): Forging ahead, falling behind, page 137 and by others third.http://www.world-gazetteer.com/wg.php?x=&men=gcis&lng=en&des=gamelan&dat=200&srt=pnan&col=aohdqcfbeimg&geo=-139 Bitola is also center of the Bitola municipality.

Name

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As a city with a long and rich historical tradition, Bitola had different names in various periods of the past. The present Macedonian name Битола (Bitola) and the former official name of the city Manastır probably mean the same thing: a monastery. The name of the city in other languages is: Aromanian: Bituli, Greek: Μοναστήρι (Monastiri), Albanian: Manastiri and Turkish: Manastır, Bulgarian: Битоля, Serbian: Bitolj. During the Ottoman rule the city was called Monastir and when Serbia gained the city after the First Balkan War (1913), it was renamed to Bitolj.

According to Adrian Room, the present name is derived from the old Slavic word Obitel (monastery). Namely, the city was formerly noted for its monastery and hence its name, from Slavic Obitel monastery, literally abode. When the meaning of the name was no longer understood, it lost its prefix o. Hence also the city’s alternate Turkish name Manastır. Placenames of the World: Origins and Meanings of the Names for Over 5000 Natural Features by Adrian Room, page 58. The name Bitola is mentioned in the Bitola inscription found in 1956 and related to the old city fortress built in 1015. This name was also mentioned in one of the treaties of Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria in 1014 . William of Tyre (1139 - 1186) mentioned in one old writing the town for the first time under the name Butela. In the 12th century, the Arab traveller Idrisi wrote: "It takes two days to travel from Ahrida (Ohrid) to Butili (Bitola) to the east. Butili is a wonderful, nice town".

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