Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
The archaeological museum of Скопје is part of the heavily debated project Skopje 2014, the project that changed the face of the city center massively. It is located in a building close to river Vardar that received a new but historic facade. You can enter it over the highly decorated bridge of the civilizations in Macedonia. It contains many regional findings: golden masks from Охрид, icons from Виница and a nice coin collection.
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There couldn’t be a better location at Скопје for the national gallery of North Macedonia than the Davut Paşa Hammam. The bathhouse was built in the second half of the 15th century close to the historic city center of Скопје, it can be found close to the giant statue of Philipp II of Macedon. The building is an excellent example of Islamic culture and it is wonderful to walk through its beautiful rooms with star-covered domes and discover local artworks behind its numerous columns.
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Most visitors of Скопје climb up to the Kale fortress. From there it is only a stone’s throw to the museum of contemporary art – if you managed to find your way on broken steps up the hill. I found the museum rather empty but probably I’ve been there at that wrong point in time. But that didn’t matter, from the museum building you’re having amazing views on the capital city of North Macedonia. And that was already worth the sweat necessary to get up.
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The current railway station of Скопје is not the first of the capital city of North Macedonia. If you’re leaving the modern city center on Macedonia street and walk to the south, you’ll find the location of the very first railway station. It existed there from 1873 to 1937, then it was torn down and in 1940 a new building was opened there. And that is what you see today, or at least a part of it: two thirds of the station were destroyed in 1963.
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The Catholic nun Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu is known throughout the world as Mother Teresa, as an example for a person who has dedicated her life to help the poor. Under the name of Saint Teresa of Calcutta she has been officially declared a saint of the Catholic church mostly for her work in India. But where did she come from? The Albanians see her as a national hero, in Kosovo they name churches and airports after her. The people remember her at Скопје, North Macedonia. But maybe we also need to connect her to the Ottoman Empire.
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When Yugoslavia broke apart and Macedonia became independent in 1992, it also gave up the Yugoslav dinar and introduced a new currency: the Macedonian denar (MKD). A denar is split into 100 deni (from the Roman Denarius coin), but you don’t need to memorize this: the deni are not circulating anymore. Instead there are coins with the value of 1 to 50 denars and banknotes from 10 to 5,000 denars. They show animals and historic buildings from Macedonia.
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At Скопје you can currently discover two railway stations: the historic one from 1940 that is nowadays the city museum and the current one in Brutalist style. From the outside it looks like a number of pipes stored next to each other, but the Soviet-style inside is very well worth a visit; it is like travelling in time. When in 1963 an earthquake destroyed most of the former railway station, Japanese architect Kenzō Tange was engaged to built a new earthquake-safe one.
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The fortress of Скопје is called Kale (the Turkish word for fortress) and located on a hill next to old city center. It was built in the 6th century by Byzantine emperor Justinian I. It became important over time as Скопје was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire, but also the Serbian emperor was crowned there in 1346. When in 1963 an earthquake destroyed Скопје to large extent, also the fortress received massive damage. Kale has been rebuilt to some extent, but still today excavation works take place there.
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Leaders seem to love triumphal arches. If you don’t have one like at Paris, you built one like at București. But it is rather seldom that you really invest in such monument nowadays. The Porta Macedonia at Скопје is an exception to this rule created in 2012 during the highly disputed project Skopje 2014 reshaping the city center. It commemorates the 20th anniversary of the young state of North Macedonia.
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Once you’ll reach the Macedonia Square of Скопје you will be astonished: in its center there is a big column reminding one of the Trajans column at Roma, surrounded by lions and large statues of soldiers. And on top is a giant statue of Alexander the Great on his horse Bucephalus. One of the largest monuments I’ve ever seen in a city center and one the creates a conflict with the neighbor Greece as both countries fight about whom the heritage of this leader belongs to.
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