Battlefield museum to tell story of glorious resistance
EDİRNE
Hıdırlık Tabya, a bastion and one of the most important military areas of the Thrace defense line during the Balkan Wars in the northwestern province of Edirne, will serve as the Balkan History Museum.
The historical building will host local and foreign visitors as a museum from next month onwards in the city, which borders Greece and Bulgaria.
Edirne Culture and Tourism Director Kemal Soytürk said that the landscape arrangements of the museum have been made, and the artifacts to be exhibited have been brought as well.
A headquarter room, 18 artillery rooms, a 120-meter tunnel and four corridors will be set up in the museum that will shed light on its glorious past of fighting wars, giving an opportunity to the onlookers to witness how the battlefields are like.
The complex will also inform the visitors about the history during the different years with the help of digital applications, transforming it into an interactive museum where there will be exhibitions as well.
Built on the ridges of Edirne in the face of the Russian occupation in 1829 at first, the bastion contributed greatly to the defense of the city for 155 days during the Balkan Wars in 1912-1913 under the command of Şükrü Pasha.
Soytürk noted that the museum would also unveil the 600-year-old history of the Turks in the Balkans, starting with the conquest of Edirne in 1361.
The museum is planned to open on Nov. 25, the anniversary of Edirne’s liberation from Greek occupation.
The site is expected to serve as the largest battlefield complex in the region after Gallipoli National Park, which sheds light on the bloody struggles in the Çanakkale War.
