Skopje 2014

View of the buildings finished after the 1963 earthquake (2014).
Macedonia Square after the addition of many monuments and façade reconstructions
View toward Macedonia Square from the Stone Bridge in July 2011. Visible are the statues of Dame Gruev, Goce Delčev, Tsar Samuil, and the under construction Warrior on a Horse monument

Skopje 2014 (Macedonian: Скопје 2014) was a project financed by the government of the Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) of the then-ruling nationalist party VMRO-DPMNE, with the official purpose of giving the capital Skopje a more classical appeal but designed more earthquake-proof. The project, officially announced in 2010, consisted mainly of the construction of colleges, museums and government buildings, as well as the erection of monuments depicting historical figures from the region of Macedonia. Around 20 buildings and over 40 monuments were to be constructed as part of the project.

The project was seen as politically controversial in its nature and as a nation-building endeavour, as it tried to further impose Macedonian historiography, promoting a Macedonian identity with unbroken continuity from antiquity over the Middle Ages to the modern times. It was one of the several major initiatives taken by the VMRO-DPMNE government in accordance with the policy of antiquization. It relied on a set of nondemocratic mechanisms aiming to expand the political dominance of that party and to leave its enduring stamp on city’s urban environment. Skopje 2014 has also generated controversy for its cost, for which estimates range from 80 to 500 million euros.

The Skopje 2014 project encompassed the construction, from 2010 to 2014, of 136 structures built at a cost of more than US$700 million.

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