BITOLA MUSEUM

Founded in 1983, this national institute and museum (НУ Завод и Музеј Битола/NU Zavod i Muzej Bitola) is very disappointing. While the collections are rather rich, the exhibition spaces seem neglected, mired in outdated museography. Only one room benefits from a careful presentation: the one devoted to Mustafa Kemal, known as Atatürk. Indeed, the founder of modern Turkey studied here from 1896 to 1899, in what was once an Ottoman military academy founded in 1848. But this Turkish-funded space is all about propaganda, and lacks any original objects. There are also virtually no icons. Yet the institution houses the country's only laboratory working on the renovation of sacred images. And what about the masterpiece, the "Inscription of Bitola" (^11th century)? It's not even on display. It's easy to see why: this stone confirms that Emperor Samuel, who died in 1014, was indeed Bulgarian and not "Macedonian", as the country's official history would have us believe.

Navicelle earrings. Now for the good stuff. Among the oldest objects is the fossil of a mastodon tooth unearthed in the large Suvodol coal mine, 21 km east of Bitola. It belonged to an ancestor of the mammoth that lived here fifteen million years ago. As far as the Neolithic is concerned, we're surprised by this small house found at Porodin, 12 km to the south-east. Made of clay between 5800 and 5200 BC, it stands out for its human details, such as the head-shaped chimney. It served as a temple for the worship of an unknown divinity. In the Antiquity section, note this superb gold earring with navicelle (shaped like a small ship) from the ^4th century B.C. It was discovered in the tomb of a Hellenized princess near Beranci, 16 km to the north. Also of note is the marble mask of Heracles, dating from the ^2nd century A.D. It was used to decorate the theater at the Herakleia Lynkestis site. Contemporary history focuses on traditional costumes, revolutionary movements and World War II partisans. The First World War is quickly dispatched, and not without error: a German helmet presented as French. It is also regrettable that the rich and tragic history of Bitola's Jewish community is presented so succinctly. In the contemporary art section, a few paintings stand out, such as portraits by Peco Vidimče (1921-2010) from Bitola and Nikola Martinoski (1903-1973) from Kruševo.