“10 Days of the Krusevo Republic” festival opens in Krusevo tonight

The traditional festival "10 Days of the Krusevo Republic" opens in Krusevo tonight with the raising of the Krusevo Republic flag on the Gumenje plateau and an official programme marking Ilinden — the Day of the Republic — and the 123rd anniversary of the Ilinden Uprising and the Krusevo Republic.

The day’s programme begins in the morning with a wreath-laying at the grave of Damjan Gruev, after which a delegation from the festival and the Municipality of Krusevo will visit the Memorial House of the Smilevo Congress in the village of Smilevo.

At 18:00, in front of the Column of the Krusevo Republic located beside the Church of St. Nikola in the town centre, the Ilinden horsemen will be welcomed before forming a procession to the Gumenje plateau.

"We expect between 120 and 140 horsemen from several places across Macedonia. It is a special gesture of piety to give recognition and respect to the horsemen who continue the Ilinden traditions," says Zaharija Angeleska of the national institution — House of Culture "10 Days of the Krusevo Republic".

Monuments, exhibition and evening programme

Delegations will also pay tribute at key memorial sites: the grave of Pitu Guli on Gumenje, the monument at the Partisan Cemetery, the grave of Toshe Proeski, the crypt of the Ilinden insurgents and the bust of Vele Marko on Gumenje.

At 19:30, in front of the "Ilinden" monument an exhibition by the State Archives titled "The Ilinden Uprising in Archival Memory" will be opened. The festival’s official opening on Gumenje is scheduled for 20:00. The programme includes a speech by the mayor of Krusevo, Niko Choneski, a reading of the Krusevo Manifesto and the traditional symbolic firing from the Creshovo cannon — a symbol of the Ilinden Uprising and the Krusevo Republic.

Alongside the ceremonial events on Gumenje, a musical programme will run in the City Park in the centre of Krusevo. "This year the main patron is the Municipality of Krusevo. We have an interesting programme, we preserve the old way of celebration, that is the traditional part. The main event will be on Gumenje, and the entertainment section will take place in the City Park in the centre of Krusevo," Angeleska adds.

The central Ilinden commemoration will be held tomorrow, 2 August, at Mechkin Kamen, where at the Great People’s Assembly an address is announced by the Vice President of the Assembly, Antonio Milososki.

Photo: press material from the event