S-K-O-P-J-E! The capital of Macedonia
What would you do if you had 100Million Euros (or more!) to spend on a country? What would you spend it on?
The leaders of Macedonia chose statues… And lots of them.
So many that you kinda get overwhelmed… At least I did.
Listen as we explain the statues (or, try to…) and then the potential explanation of how these things came to be.
Transcript:
Skopje – (WATER FALL BACKGROUND)
I’m in Skopje, Macedonia.
Now, I had never heard of this country or city- but I kept hearing “YOU HAVE TO GO TO SKOPJE!” while I was traveling through the balkans.
I guess I have to go to Skopje.
Macedonia is a tiny country north of Greece in the Balkan region. I hitchhiked south from Serbia, and once the semi-truck passed the boarder, we hit this huge pothole that made my kidneys end up in my throat.
“WELCOME TO MAKADONIA!” the driver said… and we continued on the really slow journey.
Skopje doesn’t disappoint.
It also quickly became apparent why everyone said I had to come here….
It’s a spectacle.
Statues….everywhere….
Dozens… if not hundreds….
Ranging from all shapes and sizes- and material.
There were things that were blatantly ripped off- like the Arc De Triumph and Brandenburg gate.
And there were others that I didn’t… like the multiple scores of philosophers and artists that lined the bridge.
The thing about skopje is that you are constantly near water- so if you’re a spy and trying to hush your conversation, this is the place for you! If you’re a podcaster, trying to record… this may not be the best quality tape you’ve ever heard….
I asked my travel partner, Matthew, who’s a trained artist, to help me describe these statues: The first is of Alexander The Great… The statue reaches up to the 8th story of the surrounding buildings… So… It’s massive.
Just that statue alone would be impressive in this tiny capital city… but, oh no! they don’t stop there! That statue is perched on a huge circular platform that cascades water down 30 feet. As you move your eyes down the pillar you see….
Around this column there is colored mood lighting that is shifting… las-vegas style… Around the lights are….
And that’s all set on a marble pool- with stairs leading up to it, where there are other lion statues looking out… guarding the great hero.
And this is just ONE statue. Yes, the biggest one… But from here, there are dozens more within spitting distance. I mean, just in this public square, there are
<2 other sculptures, not on the same scale…… yea, there’s more- come on>
We walk across the bridge, south, towards Greece. Where Alexander’s sword is pointing. Brief cultural lesson: Macedonia and Greece have this on-going hatred for each other- (something about boarders and the name macedonia and other child-hood-playground stuff) so by having Alexander’s sword pointing towards Greece is, I think, a text-book definition of symbolism. Or passive-aggressiveness.
But the next largest statue we see is of a woman! One of the only women statues in the whole city!
Warning: I am about to describe the fountain shape in relation to male anatomy. If you’re offended by such words you should skip ahead 45 seconds.
We found out later that there is a story here. Here’s Mia, a local.
Ah. So that’s Alexander’s mother, whatever her name is…. Apparently it’s not as important as her boobs. But then there’s Philip! Because who can forget Philip?
Are you getting exhausted listening to that? Good! Us too! We decided to take a break from statue-fatigue and look around us… In doing so, we noticed a few things:
-The sidewalks weren’t lined up,
-the whole city seemed to be under construction.
-Equipment and trucks everywhere, like they were forgotten after the hot day was over.
And by hot, I mean really hot…
-There was no shade or trees to be found- which was a poor oversight… because it was 42degrees this past July, that’s over 100F, and the faux marble seems to suck and hold onto the summer sun.
It was almost as if…
Almost as if to prove this point- we walked up closer to a building and noticed that an additional facade wall- neoclassical style- was being attached to the deteriorating concrete outside. To give the building a “face-lift” so to speak. This seems great! Except the poor guy on the inside will have to crawl through several feet of concrete just to open and close his window now.
I forced Matthew to walk through more with me- but I’m not going to do that to you, dear audience… The entire experience, though, left me really conflicted on how I was supposed to feel about all of it.
Washington DC’s National Mall is similar that it has a lot of monuments and statues— but they’re spread out. Thought out. Like the city prepared and donated space for these pieces of history and art.
Unlike, Skopje…. Where it seems….
Ok. Stop.
How did this all happen?
I had my own theory that included a sexy sculpture-ist seducing politicians so she wouldn’t be a starving artist anymore. Which isn’t entirely false… The sculptor IS a woman named Valentina Stefanovska, but everything else was completely made up.
Matthew heard something else.
I wanted to get a local’s opinion. So I asked Mia and her friend Maya what they thought.
Ok- but WHY statues? Why not fix those giant potholes that my semi kept hitting all the way here. Or maybe build some parks with shade?
The Nationalistic pride is really a love for a man…Alexander the Great.
But some people like the statues!
That’s Lana from the Tirana Art Express in Albania. I also asked Erika what she thought.
I think that last bit is the biggest take away… The contrast is jarring. You have this huge new city center— with neoclassical buildings and heaps of statues… that are expensive looking, but kinda ugly and probably going to fall apart in the next few years— butted right up next to ex-communist block buildings that are drab and gray and crumbling. Leading up to the city, the roads are littered with potholes and obstacles that makes driving through the country very slow-going, and sometimes impossible.
Mia put it right when she said: “I don’t know another city that has what we have”…
Part of me appreciates a government that spends money on art- even if it’s ugly. and I’ll give Skopje this: I went there for this spectacle. So have others! Their tourism rate has skyrocketed since the the Skopje 2014 project started.
Maybe this was all part of a bigger plan to get people to visit Macedonia?
Or maybe they really like Kitchy art.
———
The Skopje 2014 project has been going on, as the name doesn’t suggest, since 2010 and wanted to be finished in 2014. I went in the summer of 2015— and it seemed far from completion and has cost anywhere between 80-500 million euros.
If you want to know more about Skopje, like how to spell it… or see pictures of everything we talked about here- check the show notes for links to my blog at LNLurie.com.
If you have your own story or opinion about them- please please please share! Either write me a review or email me. I would love to hear it.
Thank you Mia, Maya, Lana, Erika and Matthew for giving me your opinions on these statues. And thanks to James Gralian and Robin Giantassio-malle for all your wisdom and fabulous ears.
FADE OUT*
FADE UP BASSOON MUSIC
Charlie’s stories:
Did you hear the bassoon street musician in this episode?
I’ve always dreamt of busking – but never really figured out how to do it. So, sometimes, I’ll bring my bassoon to house-parties… because, really, having a guy who plays the guitar is so cliche and over-done.
Most people don’t even know what to make of it… they call it a bong, or a bazooka… And then I start playing.
I only know a few songs… and this one, called Humoresque, is one of my go-to’s.