Macedonian Museums-77-Mouseio Mixahl Tsartsidh-339

The Michalis Tsartsidis Folklore and History Museum is a museum in

Sidirokastro Sidirokastro ( el, Σιδηρόκαστρο; Bulgarian and Macedonian: ''Valovišta''; tr, Demirhisar) is a town and a former municipality in the Serres regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipali ...

, Central Macedonia, Greece, 85 km from Thessaloniki and 25 km from Serres. The museum was opened in 1979, and was set up as a private initiative in order to showcase the numerous aspects of the personal collection of Michalis Tsartsidis. The collection is divided into two parts, military and folklore. The owner of the collection started collecting weapons and military memorabilia in 1941, and it has now grown into a large collection of weapons dating from the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...

and the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and Second World Wars. Apart from a broad assortment of rifles, revolvers, and pistols, visitors can also see German bombs from World War II, cartridge belts, helmets, knapsacks, photographs of the battle of

Rupel Fortress Fort Roupel ( el, Οχυρό Ρούπελ) is a fortress at the north border of Central Macedonia, Greece, built-in 1914. It became part of the fortifications of the Metaxas Line in the 1930s and became famous for its defence during the German in ...

, letters stored by Greek fighters in their rifle barrels, the flag of the headquarters of the Greek Army in the Middle East, German propaganda posters, and a piece of soap made from human fat (a Jewish victim of the Holocaust). A rare piece, in both conception and execution, is a rifle disguised as a walking stick, which was used for secret executions. The most recent exhibits are Serbian Army helmets with holes in them, proof of the execution in cold blood of Serb soldiers by UÇK fighters. The folklore section of the collection seeks not to recreate the traditional way of life, but to preserve and display some rare and not-so-rare tools, costumes, and objects that were used in times gone by. Of particular interest are three bellows used by a blacksmith, a coppersmith and a confectioner, moulds for cast iron, moulds for bricks, wooden safety locks, and various tools of destruction.

File:Macedonian_Museums-77-Mouseio_Mixahl_Tsartsidh-340.jpg, Part of the folklore section File:Macedonian_Museums-77-Mouseio_Mixahl_Tsartsidh-341.jpg, Machine gun of the Greek army File:Macedonian_Museums-77-Mouseio_Mixahl_Tsartsidh-342.jpg, Part of large collection of weapons

Sources

* {{Coord, 41.2355, 23.3907, display=title Military and war museums in Greece Folk museums in Central Macedonia Buildings and structures in Serres (regional unit)