The idea of creating a separate Historical Museum of Macedonia emerged immediately after the liberation and the formation of the Macedonian state, while its realization took place gradually over a period of several years. One of the first steps in this direction was the setting up of the exhibition "NLW (National Liberation War) of Macedonia" on October 11, 1948, on the seventh anniversary of the beginning of the Antifascist Uprising. In the exhibition, set up on the premises of the then Art Gallery in Skopje, historical objects, documents, photographs, testimonies, and other materials relating to the newly ended National Liberation War were presented to the general public for the first time. The collected exhibits represented the basis for creating the first permanent historical exhibition. This exhibition was solemnly opened on November 22, 1951, in the building of the later Pioneers' Home on "Ilindenska" Street in Skopje. With this, the new "Museum of the National Liberation Struggle of Macedonia" was practically opened. It was officially established by a Decree of the Government of the then People's Republic of Macedonia on June 24, 1952, published in the "Official Gazette of the PRM" on July 1 of the same year. During the preparations for its opening, more than 6,000 documents and over 800 photographs were collected.
Even during the preparations, it was planned that the "Museum of the NLS" would gradually expand with new departments, thereby growing into the Historical Museum of Macedonia. During 1953, accelerated preparations began for creating a concept, researching, and collecting materials related to the national-revolutionary movement of the Ilinden period. The activities took place as part of the commemoration of the great jubilee – 50 years since the beginning of the Ilinden Uprising. On August 2, 1953, in the reconstructed premises of the former military barracks of the Kale Fortress, the department for the National-Revolutionary Period was solemnly opened. At the same time, the exhibition "Ilinden 1903-1953" was opened in the Macedonian pavilion in Belgrade. These activities represented the completion of the process of shaping the Historical Museum of Macedonia.
In the beginning, the Museum used the old building of the former military barracks on Kale as its home, which was intended to grow into a permanent museum building. These plans were permanently disrupted by the catastrophic earthquake of July 26, 1963, in which the old building suffered severe damage. At the same time, many significant historical objects, which had been carefully collected in the previous period, remained under the ruins.
After the earthquake, the Museum operated for many years in temporary premises and under very difficult conditions. During this period, the museum workers were forced to perform their work from a prefabricated barrack. They managed to rescue and protect some of the valuable objects they possessed from under the ruins. At the same time, despite the poor conditions, they continued with research work and collecting new materials. The rescued objects were gathered in improvised tents, and later, for a period, they were also kept in the Church of "Sveti Spas" (Holy Salvation). The Museum achieved its visibility at that time mainly by organizing frequent mobile exhibitions in honor of commemorating significant events and anniversaries. Some of these exhibitions were also organized in other cities across the Republic.
This changed in 1976, when the new museum building was built in the Old Skopje Bazaar, right next to Kurshumli An. In addition to the Historical Museum, the Archaeological and Ethnological museums were also housed in the new modern facility. From this period begins the closer connection between the three museums, initially as a BOAL (Business Organization of Associated Labor) – Museums of Macedonia, and later, after 1984, into a single work organization – Museum of Macedonia. With this, the Historical Museum lost its status as a separate organizational unit and began to function as the History Department within the Museum of Macedonia.
The National Institution Museum of Macedonia possesses a large number of historical museum objects, sculptures, art paintings, photographs, and other materials that testify to some of the most important events in the turbulent Macedonian history.
COLLECTIONS:
The most significant events in this period are presented chronologically, starting from the arrival of the Slavs, their acceptance of Christianity, the creation of the Slavic alphabet, the creation of the medieval state of Tsar Samuel, the rebellions against Byzantium, falling under Serbian rule, and the establishment of individual fiefs.
The collection contains a large number of objects. Two hundred of them are three-dimensional objects, such as: medieval coins of Byzantine and Serbian rulers, rings, buckles, arrows and spears, and various tools. It is also important to mention the “volchyak” (wolf) sword and the copy of Samuel’s plate with an inscription from the end of the 10th century, which is the oldest Cyrillic text in the Balkans.
The collection of objects from the Ottoman period consists of more than 500 objects. They date from the 14th century, when the Ottomans came to the Balkans, until the beginning of the 20th century, i.e., until the Ilinden Uprising in 1903. Most of them are photographs with portraits and drawings of sultans, various buildings, baths, dervish tekes, harems, palaces (sarais), and some landscapes from different regions.
The collection has more than 200 coins. Copper coins are the most interesting for numismatists.
The most representative are the weapons and military equipment of the Ottoman army. This collection contains about 200 pieces of cold steel and firearms (maces, swords, yatagans, small pistols – kuburas, matchlock muskets, caplocks, and gunpowder-loading pistols). The most interesting part of the Ottoman weapons is their processing and decoration. Decorations give a special beauty to the weapons. In addition to the date of manufacture and parts of the Quran, the weapons are mostly decorated with arabesques and vegetative ornaments, adorned with precious and semi-precious stones, pearls, ivory, coral, gold, and silver.
Towards the end of the 18th and in the first decades of the 19th century, the process of national awakening of the Macedonian people began. This period marks the first step towards the revival, which was expressed through the striving for one’s own script and language, but also through the gradual shaping of national consciousness. In this context, the first generation of revivalists appeared: Joakim Krchovski, Kiril Pejchinovikj, and Teodosij Sinaitski, who through their works in the vernacular language laid the foundation for the future literary tradition.
In parallel with the spread of Slavic literacy in Macedonia, the question of choosing a literary language also arose. The goal was to push the Greek language out of schools, but the question arose as to which language the teaching would be conducted in and textbooks written in? Despite strong Greek and Bulgarian influences, a desire appeared to create own, Macedonian textbooks and schools, which represented an important step towards cultural independence. Thus, in the period from 1857 to 1875, about 15 textbooks were published.
With the strengthening of cultural processes in the second half of the 19th century, literary activity in Macedonia also developed significantly. A characteristic feature was the intensified interest in folk literature, folklore, and customs, as the folk spirit and collective memory were most strongly expressed in them. During this period, folk songs, stories, and proverbs were collected and recorded, thereby preserving the cultural heritage. The most prominent representatives of this period were: Jordan Hadzhi Konstantinov-Dzhinot, Kuzman Shapkarev, Gjorgji Pulevski, Rajko Zhinzifov, Grigor Prlichev, Dimitar and Konstantin Miladinovi, Marko Cepenkov, Janaki Stezov, and others.
At the close of the 19th century, a decline in literary activity was observed in Macedonia, whereby the question of the literary language opened up once again. In 1892, this issue was raised through the magazine “Loza”, published in Sofia, but it was soon banned. In 1902, the Macedonian Scientific-Literary Society “Sveti Kliment” was founded in Petrograd, whose founders were Krste P. Misirkov, Dimitar Chupovski, Dijamantija T. Mishajkov, Stefan J. Dedov, Dr. Gavril Konstantinovich, and others. In 1913, the activity continued under the name “Macedonian Colony”, and at the same time, the publication of the newspaper “Makedonski glas” (Macedonian Voice) began, through which national and cultural ideas were promoted.
The development of dramatic art in Macedonia gained continuity by building upon the tradition established by Dzhinot. The tradition of dramatic creation, started by him, was worthily continued by Vojdan Chernodrinski, who dedicated his works to the difficult and bloody history of Macedonia, bringing a strong patriotic and social engagement into the theater.
Within this era, a special place is occupied by Krste Petkov Misirkov as its most significant representative. He is considered the founder of the modern Macedonian literary language and Macedonian scientific thought. With his views on the standardization of the language and on national identity, he gave a clear direction for further cultural and national development, whereby he was not just a product of the revivalist ideology, but also its active creator and promoter.
Aneta Popantoska, Senior Curator, aneta.popantoska@gmail.com
The National Revolutionary Movement collection contains diverse objects associated with the Macedonian revolutionary and national-liberation movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries (the Hajduks, the Razlovci and Kresna Uprisings, the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, the Ilinden Uprising, the Balkan Wars, and the First World War...). The collection preserves weapons and military equipment, seals, flags, documents, household items, and other objects mostly related to some of the historical figures or events, historical photographs, postcards, etc. Among the authentic and unique objects are the seal of the Chief of Staff of the Macedonian (Kresna) Uprising of 1878, the flag of the "Ilinden" Society from Sofia (a society of veterans of the Ilinden Uprising), the press for making counterfeit coins for the needs of the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization before the Ilinden Uprising, the walking sticks with daggers used by the Macedonian revolutionaries Hristo Uzunov and Kostadin Kirkov, etc.
Mirjana Ninchovska, Curator Advisor, mnincovska@yahoo.com
The collection contains about 1,000 objects, photographs, and documents that speak of the time when Macedonia was divided between Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Albania, and the awakening of national consciousness through the formation of various societies: party, sports, cultural, and educational. The participants were progressive young people and students who later, during the Second World War, sacrificed their lives for liberation from fascism and the creation of a state for the Macedonian people. Some of them were: Kole Nedelkovski, Kuzman Josifovski, Kosta Racin, Strasho Pindzhur, Borko Taleski, Nikola Vapcarov, Lazo Trpovski, Boro Menkov, and many other well-known and lesser-known freedom fighters.
The Historical Department has a collection of about 80 original works of art: paintings, sculptures, and caricatures by prominent Macedonian authors, such as Lazar Lichenoski, Dimitar Pandilovski, Ljubomir Belogaski, Tomo Vladimirski, Vangel Kodzhaman, Borko Lazeski, Vangel Naumovski, Vasilie Popovich - Cico, Rodoljub Anastasov, and others. The collection also has postage stamps, badges, old money, flags, etc.
Senior Curator: Ilija Curev, curev.ilija@gmail.com , Head of the History Department
The collection "National Liberation Struggle in Macedonia" represents one of the oldest historical collections in the Museum. The collection of historical material and documentation that testifies to the period of the Second World War, known in Macedonia as the National Liberation War (1941-1944), began immediately after the liberation of the country and the formation of statehood. On October 11, 1948, the first exhibition dedicated to the "NLW of Macedonia" was opened. The collected museum material, presented at the exhibition, represented the basis for creating the first historical permanent exhibition in the new "Museum of the National Liberation Struggle of Macedonia", solemnly opened on December 22, 1951. In the following years, this Museum grew into the "Historical Museum of Macedonia", which, as the History Department, is today an integral part of the NI "Museum of the Republic of North Macedonia - Skopje".
The collection possesses more than 1,000 museum objects and several thousand photographs that speak of the national liberation and antifascist struggle of the Macedonian people and other ethnic communities living in the Republic of North Macedonia during the Second World War. The collection mainly includes: weapons (rifles, pistols, submachine guns, combat knives, etc.), ammunition (bombs, bullets), technical equipment (radio receivers, cameras, telephones, binoculars, etc.), clothing and other military equipment (trousers, shirts, boots, officer uniforms, bags, backpacks, helmets, etc.), medical supplies, flags and seals from partisan units, medals, plaques, as well as a wealth of paper documentation testifying to the partisan struggle and the formation of the first state, Democratic Federative Macedonia. As part of this collection, there are also numerous photographs, objects, documents, and testimonies relating to the participation of Macedonians from the Aegean part of Macedonia (the part of Macedonia located within the borders of the Republic of Greece) in the National Liberation War (1941-1945) and in the Civil War in Greece (1946-1949).
Curator, Zdravko Stojkoski, zdrstojkoski@gmail.com
As part of the permanent historical exhibition of the NI Museum of Macedonia is the exhibition relating to the museum collection "Macedonia after the Second World War". This collection represents a vivid historical narrative, which visually focuses through museum objects on the social, political, economic, and cultural life in Macedonia within the Yugoslav federation, in the period from the constitution of the R. of Macedonia, immediately after the Second World War in 1945, until its independence in 1991. The museum objects from this collection, as narrators of a very significant period of the contemporary history of the Macedonian people and Macedonian statehood, are key witnesses to this authoritative period in which the main emphasis is placed on the role and tasks of the working class, embodied through the only political party at that time, as the main driver of the overall socio-political, economic, and cultural interaction in the state, as well as on the workers' self-managing forms of organization and action which in turn were a key substrate of socialist "democracy" and its socio-political relations of functioning. In the collection, this period is divided into four parts:
Establishment of the Socialist System and Economy: The entire social, economic, and political milieu in this section, starting from the constitution of the highest organs of power (ASNOM and the first government of the PRM), through internal colonization and industrialization, as well as the planned economic policy, are presented through photographs, drawings, paintings, flags, coats of arms, posters, placards, documents, the first Constitution of 1946, shock-worker booklets (udarnik booklets), brigade identity cards, labor booklets, booklets issued by the then ministries, temporary membership cards, confirmations for using privileges in catering, control cards for registering temporarily unemployed persons, tax booklets, etc.
Cultural and Educational Activity in the PRM/SRM: The fight against illiteracy and the construction of preschool institutions, primary schools, secondary schools, faculties, and theaters, presented through the first primer from 1946, the first orthography of the Macedonian language from 1946, photographs of schools, faculties, theaters, flyers, catalogs, etc.
Political Milieu in the PRM/SRM: Socio-political organizations of the time (NFM, NRM, LCY/LCM, SZBNM, NMY, AMM, USAOY), as well as the struggle of certain political dissidents for the democratization of the entire socio-political system in the country managed by the Central Committee of the CPY/CPM/LCY/LCM, presented through membership booklets, membership cards, tickets, and identity cards for participating in congresses, photographs of congresses, badges, etc.
Dissolution of the SFRY and Independence of the RM: This section covers the period from the death of Josip Broz Tito (1980) and the beginning of the end of the SFRY, as well as its collapse (1990/1991) and the independence of the Republic of Macedonia, presented through photographs, the declaration of independence, the referendum, the new constitution, the first currency, etc.
Senior Curator, Boro Bunteski, bunteboro@gmail.com
The collection for physical culture and sport covers the period of the emergence of modern sports disciplines in Macedonia, from the beginning of the 20th century (the period after the Young Turk Revolution in 1908) to the present day.
The collection itself includes a large number of photographs, documents, and objects that speak of the development of physical culture and sports. In the period between the two world wars, football dominated as an all-accepted sport alongside the gymnastics societies – Sokols. In the post-war period, all sports disciplines experienced development.
Within the collection itself, the funds of the founders of athletics and marathon running in Macedonia, Memo Sulejmanov, and of marathon swimming (women), Atina Bojadzi, stand out as separate archival groups.