The struggle over memory hidden in the contemporary cityscape: the example of Skopje 2014, Macedonia

Koziura, Karolina

doi:1429-0618

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Title: The struggle over memory hidden in the contemporary cityscape: the example of Skopje 2014, Macedonia

Abstract:

A city is a product of not only urban planners and architects, but also of politicians, writers and members of various groups who treat it as theirs. The struggle over memory is visible in many places. However, I claim that various „symbolic wars” are especially visible in the case of the post-socialist urban revival. The city of Skopje is a case in point. Nowadays, Skopje can be perceived as a symbolic battlefield through which diverse exclusive and inclusive myths are created and negotiated. The aim of the „Skopje 2014” project analyzed in this article is to restructure the city center of Skopje in style of the Antiquity by renovating facades, raising new buildings and establishing a number of new monuments. I claim that, through various meanings of nostalgia, this project conceals the nationalizing policy of the Macedonian government on the one hand, and the search for a new urban identity and its connection with the European heritage on the other hand

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