Zeitenlik Military Cemetery

Zeitenlik Military Cemetery

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Zeitenlik Military Cemetery

The tribute to the fallen allies of World War I.

The largest military cemetery in the Balkans is a great monument to the turbulent period of World War I. In the area on Lagada Street, 1,5 kilometers from Vardari Square the tombs of the dead of the Macedonian Front preserve the memory of the fallen and remind citizens of the horrors of war. 20,500 officers and soldiers who fought on the Entente side are buried in "Zeitelnik", "Eleonas" in Turkish, divided into five sections, based on their nationality.

The maintenance of the premises is done by every state that supervises its sector and the area is well-kept, clean, and imposing, both as a spectacle and with the importance of its operation as a tribute. In the cemetery, there is the French Sector, with 8,089 fallen from France, Senegal, Madagascar, Indochina, and North Africa, the Serbian with 7,500 dead, the Italian with 3,000, the British with 1,600 and the Russian with 400 graves. Among them are Bulgarian prisoners of war.

 The site was chosen by the Allies during the hostilities due to the great need to bury the fallen of the Front because there were military hospitals in the area but there was also a nearby Catholic Cemetery. On November 11, the day of the end of World War I in 1918, an event is held with the participation of all countries, in memory of the fallen.

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