Although there is evidence of settlements in the area as early as the bronze age, the
town is first mentioned under a name resembling its modern name in the 17th century under
the toponym Htetovo. The legend is that Tetovo got its name after the legendary hero Teto,
who cleared the town from snakes; not surprisingly, Tetovo means Teto's place.
In the middle ages Tetovo was an important trade center for the local farmers and craftsmen,
as well as an important military fortification for the Ottomans. In the 19th century, the
Russian Consul I. Yastrebov spoke highly of Tetovo's climate - mild snowy winters, sunny
and comfortably warm summers. The traveler Ami Bue described Tetovo as a very clean city.
Some of the mosques in the town are date back to the 15th century. The best known among
them is the Painted (Aladzha) Mosque on the right bank of the river Pena, known among the
locals as Pasha Mosque. In the yard of the mosque there is an octagon-shaped "turbe"
(grave) of Hurshida and Mensure, the two women that provided the money for the construction
of the mosque in 1459.
In the vicinity of the town is the Arabati Baba Teke, which used to be a sort of Dervish
monastery/convent of the Bekteshi Order. The Teke was abandoned in 1945 and today it houses
the Museum of Tetovo.
The Monastery of Leshok with the churches of St. Athanasius and of the Holy Virgin, are
situated 8 km near Tetovo, close to the road leading to the village of Brezno. The church
of the Holy Virgin, an excellent example of the byzantine construction tradition, is
believed to have been constructed 1326. The church has three layers of frescoes: the bottom
layer is from the time of construction, the middle one is from the 17th century, and the
top one is from 1879. Several marble columns from the origina church are kept today in the
Tetovo museum. The church of St. Athanasius was built in 1924 next to the church of the Holy
Mother of God. In the yard of the Monastery of Leshok is the tomb of the Macedonian educator
Kiril Pejchinovik, who was born in 1770.
