On this day passed away Vera Klichkova (Skopje, April 24, 1911 – Skopje, May 25, 1998), a Macedonian ethnologist, museologist, and folklorist.
In 1934, she graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje in the subjects of ethnology, anthropogeography, and geography, and in 1947 she completed a specialized museology course in Zagreb.
She spent her professional career in the museum and conservation field as an assistant, curator, senior curator, and director of the Ethnological Museum in Skopje (today the Museum of Macedonia), where she managed the institution’s entire professional, scientific, organizational, and administrative work, while also conducting field research and collecting ethnographic materials.
At the same time, she served as editor of the publication Glasnik of the Ethnological Museum – Skopje. For her professional, scientific, and public educational activities, she received numerous awards and recognitions.
In her memory, on June 4, 2025, as part of the permanent exhibition, a memorial room was opened, designed to resemble her office in the museum during her time as director, along with the screening of a biographical film. The memorial room features restored original objects, documents, personal belongings, and the furniture from the office where she worked as director for 26 years.
In the film dedicated to the significance and achievements of Vera Klichkova in ethnology, museology, and the creation of ethnological films, her contemporaries and colleagues speak about her work, further completing the picture of her total dedication and love for the profession, as well as her important role in the broader social life of Macedonia.
Vera Klichkova played a major role in organizing and enriching the ethnographic collections of this and other museum institutions, as well as pioneering visual anthropology and the creation of the first ethnological films in Macedonia. During her career, the total number of collected artifacts in the Museum reached 15,000.
Vera Klichkova is regarded as a dean of visual ethnology in Macedonia. Beginning in the mid-1950s, she initiated the organized filming of ethnological documentaries and became the “first lady” of this activity not only in Macedonia but also more broadly in the region. As a screenwriter and director, she made six films between 1952/53 and 1964/66: Azot, Easter Customs, St. George’s Day Customs, Rusalii Customs in the Gevgelija region, Fishing in Katlanovo Lake, and Mariovo Wedding.
In the field of visual ethnology, Vera Klichkova was avant-garde for her environment, with historical and cultural importance comparable to that of Manaki Brothers, as pioneers of their time who used film to document important events and moments from the everyday and traditional life of the people of Macedonia during the 20th century.