Museum of the Macedonian Struggle (Skopje)
Encyclopedia
The Museum of the Macedonian Struggle is a national museum of the Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...

 located in the capital city of Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...

. Construction of the museum began June 11th 2008 and it was opened to the public on the 20th anniversary of the declaration of independence on September 8th
Independence Day (Republic of Macedonia)
The Independence Day in the Republic of Macedonia is celebrated on 8 September. It has been a national holiday since 1991, when a Referendum for Independence took place...

, 2011. The building is located between the Museum of Archaeology (under construction), the Holocaust Museum of Macedonia
Holocaust Memorial Center for the Jews of Macedonia
The Holocaust Memorial Center for the Jews of Macedonia is a memorial to the holocaust of the 7,148 Jews from Macedonia and the history of the Jews in the Balkans, located in...

, the Stone Bridge
Stone Bridge (Skopje)
The Stone Bridge is a bridge across the Vardar River in Skopje, the capital of the Republic of Macedonia. The bridge is considered a symbol of Skopje and is the main element of the coat of arms of the city, which in turn is incorporated in the city's flag. The Stone Bridge connects Macedonia...

 and the Vardar
Vardar
The Vardar or Axios is the longest and major river in the Republic of Macedonia and also a major river of Greece. It is long, and drains an area of around . The maximum depth of river is ....

 River.

The exhibit covers the fight for Macedonian statehood from the days of the Hajduk
Hajduk
Hajduk is a term most commonly referring to outlaws, highwaymen or freedom fighters in the Balkans, Central- and Eastern Europe....

s against the Turkish occupation during the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 until the declaration of independence from Yugoslavia on 8th September 1991
Macedonian independence referendum, 1991
The Macedonian Independence Referendum was held on September 8, 1991 and led to independence of Macedonia from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.The question on the referendum was:1...

. The guided tours take the visitors through 13 exhibits ending in front of the original copy of the 1991 Declaration of Independence.

The construction of the museum and other parts of the Skopje 2014 project caused controversy in Skopje with accusations of lack of transparency in the funding, the choice of themes, and that it served the interests of the ruling party VMRO-DPMNE.
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