The Museum of Macedonia is the largest and oldest institution of its kind in the RN Macedonia, playing an exceptionally significant role in the acquisition, preservation, study, protection, and presentation of Macedonian cultural heritage. The museum is a complex organization consisting of several departments: Historical, Ethnological, History of Art, Conservation Laboratory, and the Department of Education.
In 1991, within the former "Museums of Macedonia" complex, the Art Department was established. It was formed by art collections containing items such as icons, frescoes, decorative sculpture, reliquaries, crosses, baptisteries, books, censers, and contemporary works of art.
The Department of History of Art consists of 7 collections of museum material and objects:
These collections process museum material from the Byzantine period, the late Middle Ages, and the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. The items have been collected from the middle of the last century until today. Some of them were acquired through purchase, while the majority were gathered through protective research from churches and monasteries throughout Macedonia.
The "Islamic Art" collection contains 21 (twenty-one) Arabic manuscripts. Some of them are handwritten, while others are printed. They contain illuminations and gilding. Most of them have religious content. From 2012 to the present day, they have been undergoing conservation, carried out at the National and University Library "St. Kliment Ohridski". The manuscripts date from the 15th to the early 20th century.
The Ottomanist Dragi Gjorgjiev has provided a translation with basic data for each manuscript individually.
Tatjana Kanchevska, senior curator, tanjakance@gmail.com
The collection contains fragments of medieval stone architectural decoration, which chronologically belong to the period from the 12th to the 15th century. Thematically and stylistically, these decorative elements are characteristic of the Byzantine tradition of applied decorative sculpture and illustrate the artistic inventiveness and spirituality of the era in which they were created. These are remnants of sculptural altar screens, portals, capitals, and baptisteries decorated with plant, zoomorphic, and geometric motifs, and some possess significant epigraphic inscriptions. The largest group in the collection consists of fragments from the Church of the Holy Archangels in Prizren from 1348/52. Other notable items include a large fragment of a portal from an unknown church in medieval Skopje, marble baptisteries from Markov Manastir from 1393 and "St. Prohor Pchinski" from 1483, the tombstone of Maria Palaiologina from 1355, a partially preserved marble iconostasis from the Church of "St. Athanasius" in Leshok, etc.
Borche Topukovski, senior curator, borcetopukovski@gmail.com
This collection consists of two parts: Original frescoes and Fresco copies.
In the Original Frescoes section, there are 80 units and fragments of Macedonian fresco painting, mostly originating from the Museum's protective research. The frescoes were executed in the tempera-on-plaster technique from the 11th to the 19th century and come from several churches, including: "Most Holy Mother of God", Matejche; "St. Nicholas", Novaci; "Holy Trinity" - village of Chucher, Skopje; "St. Nicholas" - village of Novaci, Tetovo; the "Vodocha" complex; "St. George", Polog Monastery, etc.
As some of the most representative examples, the frescoes from the Church of "St. Leontius" in Vodocha can be singled out, dating from the first half of the 11th century. These are two monumental representations of two deacons, Isavrios and Evplos.
Fresco Copies
The fresco copies section has been built up since the very beginning of museum activity and is the largest collection of its kind in Macedonia. It represents a specific type of documentation of medieval wall painting and belongs to the category of artistic museum objects. This collection has permanently preserved our anthological scenes from the tooth of time. Copyists executed them in the tempera-on-canvas technique, in the exact dimensions and colors identical to the originals in the churches. The copied scenes hold iconographic, artistic, historical, and cultural significance. They feature scenes from the Old and New Testaments, church leaders, enlighteners, local saints, ktetor (founder) compositions, scenes from hagiographies, and poetic illustrations. Through the copies, the development of wall painting in Macedonia can be followed chronologically from the 9th to the 18th century.
Marija Petkovska, curator, marijajp07@gmail.com
The collection of icons in the Museum of the RN Macedonia is one of the most numerous of its kind in the country. It contains more than 500 icons and woodcarvings, featuring the most typical and representative specimens of the Byzantine and post-Byzantine periods, spanning from the 14th century to the middle of the 20th century. Examples include the icons: Jesus Christ Savior and Lifegiver (1394) painted by Metropolitan Jovan, and St. Mother of God Pelagonitissa (1422) painted by his brother, the monk Makarij – icons that originally belonged to the iconostasis in the Zrze Monastery near Prilep.
From the post-Byzantine period, there is a group of works (1535) originating from the Slepche Monastery in Demir Hisar, painted in the atelier of the painter Jovan of Gramosta in Kastoria. The collection also contains representative examples of iconostasis crosses from the 16th century, such as the cross from the Slepche Monastery painted in the atelier of the painter Onufri of Argos and the cross from the Polog Monastery (1584).
There is a large number of icons by anonymous painters originating from Nerezi, Ohrid, Kurbinovo, Struga, and other regions; icons from the Lesnovo Monastery in Zletovo (1626). A thematic rarity among the icons of this period is the representation of David's last psalms, as seen in the icon from the Monastery of the Holy Archangels in Kucheviste. The 18th-century icons are represented by works of anonymous masters, but also by icons from the ateliers of famous icon painters like David of Selenica or the brothers Konstantin and Atanas, painters from Korçë.
The most significant icons from the beginning of the 19th century are those by the painters: Priest Petar, Krste of Veles, Krste Pop Trajanovikj, the monk Antoni of Bitola, and others. The most impressive figure from the middle of the century is the painter Dimitar Krstevich - Dicho from Tresonche. A modest number of specimens of popular graphic art from the former church museum (17th and 18th centuries) has been preserved. The collection also houses examples of antiminsia (consecrated altar cloths), the oldest dating back to 1780 and the newest to 1915.
MA Tatjana Trajkovikj, curator, tatjanatrajkovic@yahoo.com
This collection consists of liturgical and decorative objects made of metal, wood, and textiles. We can single out several major items: a fully preserved metal polycandelon (church chandelier) from the church in Psacha, Kriva Palanka, dating from the 14th century; fragments of polycandela and censers from the same period from Markov Manastir, Skopje. There are numerous silver icon plates and censers, mainly from the late Middle Ages, such as the censer from the "St. Prohor Pchinski" Monastery. An interesting example of artistic textile processing is the two priestly vestments from the second half of the 18th century from the Bigorski Monastery.
Within this collection is the legacy of the painter Keraca Visulcheva (1910-2003), which she left as a heritage to the RN Macedonia. The collection consists of more than 400 works in oil, pastel, watercolor, charcoal, pencil, and clay, created from the early 1940s of her life onwards. The themes are diverse and encompass portraits, landscapes, baths, nudes, etc. Her style carries influences from French Impressionism and Expressionism, and the academic realism of Munich, striving toward a contemporary modernist concept.
In the Saray of Niyazi Bey in Resen, today the "Dragi Tozija" House of Culture, lies the memorial room of the painter Keraca Visulcheva. On display are some of the paintings and drawings from her opus, as well as photographs, personal items, medals, decorations, and commendations that the artist received in various European countries. Her final painting, the portrait of President Kiro Gligorov, is also kept here.