The Monastery is widely known for its iconostasis, made by Petre Filipovski - Garkata from the village Gari together with his brother Marko Filipov, Makarij Frchkoski from Galichnik and Avram Dichov with his sons, in the period from 1829 to 1835.
The iconostasis of the monastery is made of tiny, deep engraving, and one of the most beautiful, together with that one in the Holy Salvation church in Skopje.
The engraved iconostasis is full with flora and fauna ornaments.
There are wonderful figures of biblical scenes, but also a richness of birds, grapes clusters, branches of vine etc. In the scene of Decapitation of Saint John the Baptist, a woman dances dressed in a traditional costume from Miyak region.
The woodcarvers had also engraved their own faces in the iconostasis in order to be remembered by the future generations.
Saint Jovan (John) Bigorski Monastery (11th century) is on foundations of a basilica dating back to 1021, the monastery complex is built of travertine onto travertine rocks
The St. Jovan Bigorski Monastery is located by the road between Gostivar and Debar in the canyon of the River Radika, surrounded by the dense forests of Mountain Bistra.
The edifice is on foundations of a basilica dating back to 1021, and a testimony of it is the fresco-painting memorial book. The monastery was demolished by Ottoman Authorities in the 16th century, and only one little church was left from the entire complex. It was rebuilt in 1743, and it got its present look in the 19th century. The monastery complex is composed of a church, the charnel house, the defence tower, monks' quarters, and the newly built guest quarters. There is a bell tower built of travertine blocks as a part of the church complex. There is a Gallery of icons opened in the monastery complex, where around seventy icons dating back to the 17 th, 18th and 19th century are
displayed. There are remains of a church in the monastery, which dates back to the 16th century, i.e. 17th century and 18th century, and the big icons are preserved from it. Bigorski Monastery enchants with its beauty. Here is a fortune of frescoes, icons and a magnificent iconostasis with beautiful engraving, and other woodcut inventory: analogy (bookstands), pews, bishop's throne, amvon etc. The frescoes are work by the famous fresco-writer, Dicho Zoograf. Nowadays, the monastery is completely restored, besides the accidental fire in 2009 when the old quarters were burnt down completely as well as two dining rooms, a library and monks quarters. However, this monastery still pulsates spiritually due to numerous monk's brotherhood.