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Museum of the French Sector of the Zeitenlik Military Cemetery
The Museum of the French Military Cemetery of Zeitenlik opened its doors to the public on May 7, 2014, on the occasion of a visit by students from the Franco-Hellenic Lyceum of Athens and the French School of Thessaloniki.
The Allied Cemeteries of Zeitenlik in Ambelokipoi, Thessaloniki, are the largest military necropolis in the country, where 20,500 soldiers of the Entente allies who fought on the Macedonian Front during World War I are buried. The cemetery was built in 1916 and is part of the Allied Military Cemetery which also includes the British, Italian, Russian and Serbian sectors. It covers an area of 35 hectares, where 8,310 soldiers are buried, of whom 8,102 are in individual graves and 208 in ossuaries: 6,347 from Metropolitan France, 1,222 from Senegal, 398 from Madagascar and Indochina, 343 North Africans. The collection of bodies at Zeitenlik was carried out from 1921 to 1923 by French military missions. In total, 8,310 French, 8,000 Serbs (of whom 6,000 are in ossuaries), 500 Russians, 1,750 British and 3,500 Italians are buried in this Allied Cemetery.
From 2011 to 2012, major renovation works were carried out in the French section of the Zeitenlik military cemetery, with funding from the French Ministry of Defense. Following these works and in the context of the events for the Centenary of the First World War, the Consulate General wanted to enable French and foreign visitors to place this cemetery in a historical and geographical context. Therefore, the old residence of the cemetery keeper was renovated and adapted accordingly, in order to create this museum, also in accordance with specifications for disabled people.
These works, as well as the cost of designing and developing these spaces, were undertaken by the Directorate of Memory, Heritage and Archives of the Ministry of Defense and were validated by the World War I Centenary Organization. In the museum rooms there are 13 bilingual panels (French and Greek) with texts, maps and archival photographs.
The museum is interactive thanks to the use of QR codes that provide access to videos and translations (Serbian and English). For reasons of coherence, a sign with a map has been placed at the entrance to the cemetery that facilitates finding a grave, with the help of the list of names of French soldiers buried in Zeitenlik, which is posted on the website of the Consulate General of France.
