NI Institute and Museum

Magaza (Gallery)

It stands as a stone fortress in the centre of the city, keeping jealously all the beauties and richness that it brought inside. It challenged the time that passed before its eyes, and it awaiting those that are about to come.

Passing trough this small metal door, you step, and who knows how many times, again into the past. With its massive walls, small entrance door, the small windows protected with metal bars and with a stone-covered roof, it looks like a small fortress. This Magaza used to be a real privilege for every tradesman that brought his goods into this city. Through this doors passed, unloaded, exposed and sold, various goods to the local population, surrounding areas, and even the bigger European markets
This is one of the numerous Magaza’s that used to exist in Bitola in the middle of the 19th century. Here the price of the goods was negotiated, the tradesmen shouted over each other, or they whispered in confidence. Every single sound of the daily noise is carved in this monument. The beauty and the scents of the various goods that filled it within, look like it found a unique reflection even in today’s use.
Today this object is turned into an art gallery, for numerous exhibits, of different types and characters. It is a place for literary readings, intimate concerts, and other cultural events, and it is the time when the Magaza coexists with that past noise. The noise of the people again echoes from the walls of the Magaza, and the people are here again with a similar purpose, to bring out something from them, and to take something from this beauty for them too.