The old and the new city center of Скопје, North Macedonia, are connected by an ancient bridge, the Stone Bridge (Камен Мост). Already in Roman times a bridge was crossing the river Vardar here. The current structures are of Osman origin: they were created by Mehmed the Conqueror from 1451 on. In 1944 the German Wehrmacht wanted to blow up the bridge which could be prevented – and therefore the bridge is still today a town’s landmark of the city and part of the city arms.
Next to this ancient bridges you’ll see two modern but highly decorated bridges. First the Bridge of Civilizations on Macedonia (Мост на цивилизациите) leading to the archaeological museum. The second one is the Bridge of Art (Мост на уметноста) close to the ministry of foreign affairs. Both have been built in a highly disputed project called Skopje 2014. In its search for national identity, the city center was altered massively. Modern buildings received ancient facades, a triumphal arch was built and a huge number of memorials has been created; the most impressive is the giant statue of Alexander the Great. It all looks a bit like fake, it did cost a large amount of money, but it also makes the center more interesting. Let’s see how future generations will rate this.
Скопје / Skopje
North Macedonia
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