It's been a long time since most of Babino's residents left their remote village in the mountains of North Macedonia, but thousands of books still stand there, as does its faithful guardian Stevo Stepanovsky.

The collection of 20,000 books was passed down through the generations of the Stepanovsky family. It was his great-grandfather who initiated this tradition at the end of the 19th century, after receiving books from Ottoman soldiers who passed through this isolated valley in the southwest of North Macedonia in the Balkans.

The library contains historical books on what is now North Macedonia, novels written in the local language, volumes in Persian, Arabic and Turkish, as well as books in Serbo-Croatian.

This collection of books is displayed in a stone house hundreds of years old, along with original photographs taken by a journalist who covered the events of the First World War, old maps and multilingual dictionaries for the Balkans.

Stepanovsky, 72, has been taking care of the place for decades, offering visitors the famous Balkan rakija, which is made using the fruit.

This retired man tells AFP that Babino represents "a village of enlightenment and education".

Most of the residents left with their belongings the remote village of Babino in North Macedonia years ago, but the books remained (French)

Stepanovsky believes that the residents benefited from the library, and the village produced a large number of teachers.

"There was no house without one of its members being a teacher," he says.

But the library bears part of the responsibility for the residents' departure from Babino.

The library started with Stepanovsky's grandfather, who received the first batch of books after mixing with Ottoman soldiers in the late 19th century (French)

Readers Village

In the fifties of the last century, the authorities that were affiliated with communist Yugoslavia recruited teachers from the village to participate in a massive campaign aimed at eradicating illiteracy, which caused Babino to lose a large number of its residents.

As is happening in all of this poor region of southeastern Europe, North Macedonia is experiencing a significant decline in its population, reinforced by a drop in the birth rate and mass exodus.

Many rural villages are now depopulated.

Papineau was greatly affected, as only 3 of the 800 people who lived there remained permanent residents.

Driven by his children, Stepanovsky is determined not to leave his village.

Despite its small population, it is rarely alone because it receives between 3 thousand and 3500 visitors to the library annually.

Most of these visitors come from neighboring cities and villages or from the Balkan countries, in addition to those who come from Brazil, Egypt and Morocco, as well as dozens of researchers and intellectuals.

Stepanovsky and his collection of 20,000 books passed on by his family from generation to generation remained in an almost deserted valley (French)

"I was surprised that they contained books that can't be found in city libraries," says Gökse Sekolowski, a music teacher from the capital, Skopje, who recently visited the library after being told by his friends.

To give the library a cultural feel, Stepanovsky built a small hall for holding lectures or giving concerts.

"We provide clarity of mind for those who come to live the experience (...) This library is the perfect place to explore the magic of books," he says.