The Archaeological Museum today marks 97 years since its founding.
In honor of the beginnings of the museum activity in Macedonia which date back to 1924, we dedicate this month to several prominent scientists who with great enthusiasm initiated the establishment of a museum institution in Skopje, which will collect, store and present archaeological objects.
One of the most prominent among them was Dr. Nikola Vulić (Shkodra, 1872 – Belgrade, 1945), who in January-February 1924 wrote: “The cultural history of Skopje should once again mark an important event … That institution really exists now: it has its own building, its own collection, its own manager, its own budget. The current collection will be housed in Kurshumli An … which can be used well for the current museum collection, which consists mainly of larger stone monuments. “, while further emphasizing:” Prehistoric, Greek and Roman antiquities in the Skopje Museum will hold a very prominent place. Let’s hope that this collection will be one of the most important such collections … ”
Nikola Vulić was a classical philologist, archaeologist, historian, professor at the University of Belgrade and a member of several academies of sciences, lifelong president of the International Union of Academies, who devoted his entire life to studying the
Classical antiquity in Macedonia and Serbia. In the course of many decades he exerted “research trips” throughout the territory of Macedonia and collected stone monuments, which were “ex officio” brought to Kurshumli An in Skopje, where they are kept even today.
During the period between 1930 and 1939 Vulić, together with Miodrag Kokić, curator at the Museum in Skopje, excavated the necropolis near Trebenishte. The exclusive grave finds discovered during these research campaigns were part of the “100 Years of Trebenishte” exhibition, which was displayed at the Archaeological Museum in 2019, as a joint project with the National Museum in Belgrade and NAIM – BAS in Sofia.
From 1935 to 1939 he excavated the ancient theater in Scupi, and the architectural elements that were found were transferred to Kurshumli An.
As part of the European scientific elite, Vulić left behind more than 550 papers devoted to the history of the Balkans, from prehistoric times to the end of antiquity and was considered one of the main propagandists of history as a science.
* The photo is part of the private collection of Prof. Alexander Nedok
