60 year ASNOM

An exhibition “ASNOM 1944-2004” has been under way at the show rooms of the Museum of Macedonia. What the admirers of Macedonian history are enabled to see is a show of a few parts that chronologically link to and complement one another. The exhibition starts with 1918 and moves to 1941. Photographs, newspapers and papers of associations and societies that show the history of our country are exhibited. The initial part opens with a map of divided Macedonia and the events chronologically move until 1940 when World War II started in the Balkans. The second part includes the years after the war between 1941 and 1945 and presents documents and photographs of political and military leaders, photographs of occupying armies etc. Besides photos of the first partisan divisions, the accent is put on the Sar Planina Division. Personal items of heroes and fighters are displayed on the shelves. The focus of the exhibition is 1944 when the First Assembly of ASNOM (Antifascist Assembly of People’s Liberation of Macedonia) was held. This final and central section presents the original Manifesto and Declaration as well as numerous photographs, papers and rulings. The show also presents the first issue of the Nova Makedonija, Mlad Borec and Osten. Along with the personal items of heroes and fighters, one can see outfits, medicines, watches, radio station batteries, and field glasses. Interestingly for art lovers, drawings of World War II by the first cartoonist, Vasilie Popovic-Cico are also exhibited. The cartoons are mainly portraits of military and political leaders and artists participating in the People’s Liberation Struggle drawn at Gorno Vranovci in 1944. In light of the 60th anniversary from the first assembly of ASNOM, the Republic Bureau for Protection of Cultural Monuments intervened on four objects: Commemorative Mausoleum in Veles, Commemorative Mausoleum in Kicevo, Monument of Freedom in Kocani, as well as Partisan Printing House in village Bituse. The intervention on the Commemorative Mausoleum in Veles included a replacement of the concrete plates and new isolation. The mausoleum has a form of a shell, which encompasses the imposing mosaic, created by renowned Macedonian painter Petar Mazev. The reconstruction of the object included installation of new hydro-isolation, along with new concrete layer. Thus, the interventions enable a long-term protection of this significant monument. Furthermore, the Commemorative Mausoleum in Kicevo and the first Partisan Printing House in village Bituse were also reconstructed. One should also mention that the activities on the Monument of Freedom in Kocani are nearing their end, with full conservation and restoration of the mosaic by Gligor Cemerski. According to the director of the Republic Bureau for Protection of Cultural Monuments, Milan Ivanovski, all these four objects are priority activities of the program for protection of the Republic Bureau.