Things to see and do Skopje

This agency offers tours and excursions by electric bicycle. It's well done with an English-speaking guide, but rather expensive: from 8,600 MKD/person (€140). The downtown tour (2h-2h30) includes visits to Stara Čaršija, Skopje Fortress and the Mother Teresa Memorial House. In the surrounding area, tours are organized to Mount Vodno (3h30-4h) and Matka Canyon (4h-5h). Multi-day excursions are also available to Ohrid and Prespa lakes and the country's four national parks.

This association (Здружението за Туристички Водичи и Придружници на Македонија/Združenieto za Turistički Vodiči i Pridružnici na Makedonija) brings together certified professional guides offering tours in North Macedonia. But it's not very responsive and its website needs updating (list of guides inaccessible, no rates displayed). Allow around 3,700/6,100 MKD (60/100 €) for a guided tour of Skopje for 1-4 people.

This mosque (Мурат Пашаина Џамија/Murat Paša Džamija, Xhamia e Murat Pashës) is not of major interest, except for its three beautiful Ottoman(türbe) tombs in its cemetery, which date back to the ^18th century. It was built in 1802, on the site of a ^15th century mosque, destroyed during the bombardment of Skopje by the Italian general Piccolomini in 1689. It retains the minaret of the old building. Named after a local governor, it should not be confused with the Sultan-Murat mosque, which is located further east.

This national museum founded in 1926 (Природонаучен Музеј на Република Македонија/Prirodonaučen Muzej na Republika Makedonija) has been housed since 1969 in an austere five-storey concrete building at the entrance to City Park and along Ilinden Boulevard. A rich collection of the country's geology, fossils, flora and fauna. The hundreds of naturalized animal and insect specimens are well presented. English translations, however, are a rarity here.

Located in Stara Čaršija, between the Mustafa-Pacha mosque and the Kuršumli caravanserai, this museum (Музеј на Република Северна Македонија/Muzej na Republika Severna Makedonija, Muzeu i Republikës së Maqedonisë së Veriut) is the largest in the country. Founded in 1924, it has been housed since 1976 in a vast concrete building with cubic forms that advance in terraces. Designed by architects Kiril Muratovski (b. 1930) and Mimoza Nestorova-Tomić (b. 1929), it boasts 6,000^m2 of exhibition space divided between three sections of ethnology, archaeology and art history. However, it suffers from a dated presentation and, above all, from competition from the National Archaeological Museum. Part of the archaeology collection has been transferred to the latter. In the process, 130 objects have disappeared, probably stolen. The ethnology section includes some sixty traditional costumes from all regions of the country. Note in particular this wedding dress from Mariovo, in the south. It weighs 40 kg and comes with a wig that the bride had to wear for a month after the ceremony, as a symbol of her virginity. Photos and models show the different architectural styles of traditional housing, as well as pottery and fishing activities.

Goddess Menada and Virgin Pelagonitisa. The archaeology section covers a broad period from the ^6th millennium BC to the ^7th century AD. It contains Neolithic votive statuettes, pottery from various periods and the famous Illyrian statuette of the goddess Menada (^6th century BC) from Tetovo. Also on display are the statue of the "Modest" Venus from the site of the ancient Scupi and some of the very rare Byzantine terracotta icons from Vinica (near Kočani). The art history section focuses on Christian art from the ^10th to the ^19th century, with the country's second-richest collection of painted icons, after that of Ohrid. The masterpiece comes from the monastery of Zrze (near Prilep). It is the icon of the "Pelagonian Mother of God" (Bogorodica Pelagonitisa), executed in 1422. The infant Christ appears without a halo, almost "disarticulated", in an astonishing position, as if performing a rotational movement, placing his head against that of his mother and caressing her face with his left hand. The section also includes copies of Byzantine church frescoes.

Surrounded by stores, this caravanserai in Stara Čaršija (Сули Ан/Suli An, Hani i Sulit) is hardly visible from the outside. Located just north of the hammam Čifte (another entrance to the east via Bitpazarska Street), it was established around 1460 by Governor Isa-Bey Ishaković. Its name comes from the Turkish word sulu, meaning a damp place. The building stands above the Serava River, which was covered over during the Ottoman period. Restored after the 1963 earthquake, it looks like a classic caravanserai: a courtyard used to store goods and 57 rooms for merchants on two levels. Since 1982, the first floor has housed part of the Faculty of Fine Arts of Saints Cyril and Methodius University, with an exhibition. The first floor is occupied by the Stara Čaršija Museum (Музеј на Старата Скопска Чаршија/Muzej na Starata Skopska Čaršija, Muzeu i Çarshisë së Vjetër të Shkupit). Established in 1983, it is part of the Skopje City Museum. Covering 350^m2, it includes an archaeology section displaying objects dating from the ^10th to the ^20th century, found in the charchia and the fortress. The ethnology section focuses on the ancient crafts of the charchia: goldsmiths, tinsmiths, coppersmiths and leatherworkers. An opportunity to discover old tools and beautiful pieces of hammered copper. The museum also includes a history section (plans and documents) and an art gallery (paintings by ^20th-century local artists).

This mosque (Иса-Бегова Џамија/Isa-Begova Džamija, Xhami e Gazi Isa Beut) was built in 1475-1476 as a tribute to the governor of the Skopje sanjak, then first governor of Bosnia Isa Bey Isaković, son of Ishak Bey. It comprises two identical rooms, two vaulted side wings and a porch covered with five domes. The interior decoration was redone in 1966. The mosque's medersa (Koranic school), still in use today, is one of the oldest in the Balkans. The Sultan-Murat mosque and clock tower lie 300 m to the south.

This small, tree-lined public park (Парк Жена-Борец/Park Žena-Borec) owes its name to a beautiful abstract sculpture paying tribute to the Yugoslav women who fought in the ranks of the partisans during World War II: about 1,700 of them died on the territory of present-day North Macedonia. Inaugurated in 1970, this stone work of about 2 m high is the work of the great Prilep sculptor Boro Mitrikeski (1927-2018). But not all the artists of the country have the same talent. You don't have to go very far to realize this. Within the framework of the "Skopje 2014" project, the same small park has been given a dozen kitsch, mediocre, ugly or pretentious monuments illustrating figures from the national narrative. One of them cumulates all the defects. It is the Monument to the Fallen Heroes of Macedonia. This vast white marble composition installed here in 2012 consists of a fountain adorned with a golden statue of the Greek mythological figure Prometheus, a tholos topped by a golden statue of the Roman allegory of victory and a portico supporting a quadriga not unlike the one at the Brandenburg Gate. The whole is accompanied by the pseudo-Latin inscription " Immortale, libertas, justicia " (in real Latin, it gives " Immortalitas, libertas, iustitia "). It is one of the most mocked monuments by Skopiotes. It is also one of the symbols of the mismanagement of the Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski (2006-2016), now sought by justice.

This public university (Универзитет Свети Кирил и Методиј/Univerzitet Sveti Kiril i Metodij, Universiteti Shën Kirili dhe Metodi) is the largest in the country with about 25,000 students. Founded in 1949, it is named after the two saints who evangelized the Slavs in the ^9th century. The visit is interesting for the brutalist architecture of the three main buildings (faculties of law, philosophy and economics) completed in 1978 and designed by the Slovenian Marko Mušič (born in 1941).

This concert hall, inaugurated in 2017 (Филхармонија на Република Северна Македонија/Filharmonija na Republika Severna Makedonija, Filarmonia e Republikës së Maqedonisë së Veriut) is the only high-quality achievement of the "Skopje 2014" project. Its structure of giant black vaults echoes the beautiful design of the Cathedral of St. Clement in Ohrid. It stands on the site of the Ibni Pajko mosque, destroyed in 1947. See also "Going out" in Skopje.

This museum (Музеј на Македонски Народен Театар/Muzej na Makedonski Naroden Teatar) is located, opposite the so-called "Theater Bridge" footbridge and next to the Macedonian Wrestling Museum, in the National Theater built in 2013 as part of the "Skopje 2014" project. This is a kitsch replica of the 1906 theater destroyed by the 1963 earthquake. Costumes, sets, photographs, paintings, personal effects of actors and directors, etc., are all on display.

Today rivaled by more modern shopping centers, the GTC or "city mall" (Градски Трговски Центар - ГТЦ) remains an emblematic Skopje building with stores, cafés, restaurants, cinema, rooftop terrace and more. Opened in 1973, it was designed by Živko Popovski (1934-2007) on the site of Mother Teresa's birthplace, destroyed in the 1963 earthquake. At the western entrance, a monument bears a quotation from the Catholic saint: "The world is not hungry for bread, but for love." See also "Treat yourself".

This square (Плоштад Скендербег/Ploštad Skenderbeg, Sheshi i Skënderbeut) is located above Goce-Delčev Boulevard and marks the entrance to the predominantly Albanian-populated Stara Čaršija neighborhood. Since 2006, it has been adorned with a 7-meter-high equestrian statue of the Albanian hero Skanderbeg, who fought the Ottomans in the ^15th century. As part of the "Skopje 2014" project, the square was also equipped with a mural depicting great figures of Albanian history, an open-air theater and a statue of Skanderbeg's army.

Founded in 1999, this museum (Нумизматички Музеј/Numizmatički Muzej) is housed in the headquarters of the National Bank of Northern Macedonia, in a futuristic 1960s tower. It houses a collection of 22,000 coins, medals, exagia solidi (Byzantine monetary weights), seals and banknotes from antiquity to the present day. Around a thousand of the country's coins are on display. Among these, the oldest are Peonian drachms minted in the ^4th century BC. Buses: 3а, 3b, 7b, 22 and 41, "Kompleks Banki 1" stop.

This World War I cemetery (Француски Воени Гробишта/Francuski Voeni Grobišta, Varrezat Ushtarake Franceze) is located above the Vardar and next to the US embassy. It houses the bodies of the soldiers of the French Army of the East who died during the Vardar offensive of September 1918. Although much smaller than Bitola, it contains 2,930 bodies of French, Moroccan and Senegalese soldiers: 960 individual graves and two ossuaries. Inaugurated in 1923, it stands on a former Roma cemetery ceded to France. Well-maintained, it comprises four rows of graves, monuments and the Maison du Souvenir (House of Remembrance). The House of Remembrance keeps a list of the soldiers buried here. An exhibition features period documents and recounts the capture of Skopje on September 29, 1918. This episode marked the end of the "Üsküb maneuver". While the Macedonian front had been at a standstill since 1915, this offensive, launched on September 14, 1918, broke through the lines held by the Bulgarians, Germans and Austro-Hungarians. Starting out from Florina (Greece), the^4th regiment of African chasseurs and the regiment of Moroccan spahis marched up the Vardar valley, giving rise to the last charge of the French cavalry under the command of General François Léon Jouinot-Gambetta, nephew of Léon Gambetta. The capture of Skopje led to Bulgaria's capitulation on September 30. Allied troops continued on to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which capitulated on November 4.

This square (Плоштад Карпошово Востание, Ploštad Karpošovo Vostanie) is an obligatory passage when taking the stone bridge to visit Skopje's eastern shore. Left empty after the 1963 earthquake, it is now occupied by a series of ugly and kitschy monuments created as part of the "Skopje 2014" project. It was supposed to be named after Alexander the Great's father, King Philip II of Macedonia. But due to protests from Greece, it was renamed after the local uprising in October 1689 against the Ottomans led by the Bulgarian Petar Karpoš. At the far end of the square is the Warrior 's Monument, a 15 meter high statue of Phillip II on a 13 meter high pedestal. In the center stands the fountain of the Mothers of Macedonia with four statues evoking Olympias, wife of Philip II and mother of Alexander. Two other fountains adorn the square, while the stone bridge is guarded by statues of the insurgents Gjorgji Pulevski (1817-1895) and Petar Karpoš (c. 1655-1689), and then by those of the Slavic evangelizing saints Cyril and Methodius, on one side, and Clement and Naum of Ohrid, on the other. Finally, the square is bordered by the Museum of Macedonian Struggle, the Holocaust Museum, the Church of St. Demetrios, the buildings of the Nikolovski Faculty of Music and the Nikolovski School of Dance (1960s-1970s), the curved Ibni-Pajko building (1938), the Stone Bridge Hotel and the National Archaeological Museum.

Founded in 1926, this municipal zoo (Зоолошка Градина Скопје/Zoološka Gradina Skopje) extends over 12 ha within the City Park. It is home to around 500 animals (36 bird species, 42 mammal species and 8 reptile species), including elephants, giraffes and lions. It was renovated in 2010 following the death of an elephant. However, it's still not very well maintained. Nearby are the Natural History Museum, cafés and restaurants, and the Dino Park recreation area (MKD 50). Pony rides are available for children.

This street is about 500 m long (Улица Македонија/Ulica Makedonja) and is the main pedestrian axis of Skopje's western bank. It connects Macedonia Square to the City Museum in the south. There are cafes, restaurants and stores as well as the Mother Teresa House and the Church of Saints Constantine and Helen. Created in 1911 and almost entirely pedestrianized since 2004, it was named after Sultan Hamid V, the Bulgarian kings Ferdinand ^I and Boris III, the Serbian king Peter ^I and Yugoslav president Tito, before becoming the "Street of Macedonia" in 1991.

Located on Macedonia Street, next to the Mother Teresa Memorial House, this new Orthodox church (Црква Свети Константин и Елена) boasts five golden domes and a 50m-high campanile. Built in concrete from 2012, it was still not completed in 2023 (completion scheduled for 2024-2025). It takes its name from a former Orthodox church near the Vardar River, which was destroyed in the 1963 earthquake.

This small municipal museum reopened in 2018 (Музеј на Илегалните Работилници за Време на НОВ/Muzej na Ilegalnite Rabotilnici za Vreme na NOV) is housed beneath the tower of the Constitutional Court (same building as the Archaeological Museum), in the cellar of a house razed to the ground in 1965. It was here that the local partisan detachment manufactured weapons and explosives during the Occupation, from 1941 to 1944. Presentation of weapons and manufacturing techniques.

Located north of Stara Čaršija, next to the Bit Pazar, this mosque (Алаџа Џамија/Aladža Džamija, Allaxha Xhamia) was built in 1438 by the general and governor of Skopje Ishak Bey and enlarged by his son Isa-Bey Ishaković. It owes its name to the multicolored ceramics that adorned its walls: in Turkish, alaca means "colored". These were destroyed by fire in 1689. The mosque retains its 30 m-high minaret and richly sculpted doors. The interior features painted decorations, reliefs and ^15th-century parquet flooring.

This neighborhood (Дебар Мало) is one of the most pleasant on the western side of Skopje. Described as a "bohemian" or "little Montmartre" neighborhood, it concentrates many restaurants. Despite the earthquake of 1963, it retains buildings and villas from the 1920s-1930s. It is at this period that it took its name of "Debar district", mainly populated by Macedonians from the region of Debar, in the west of the country. The most lively places are the streets Aminta-Treti (or Leninova, from north to south) and Orce-Nikolov (from east to west) and the pedestrian street Gjorgji-Peškov.

Situated on a hill that reaches 325 m above sea level, this 108 ha park (Парк на Природата Гази Баба/Park na Prirodata Gazi Baba, Parku Natyror Gazi Baba) is the largest green space in the conurbation. Classified as a nature park in 2015, it comprises a 100-hectare forest planted mainly with cypresses, black pines and oaks. It owes its name to the Turkish poet Aṣik Çelebi, known as Gazi Baba (1520-1572). Originally from Prizren, Kosovo, he is buried in a mausoleum to the southwest of the park, above the Gazi Baba district (38,000 inhabitants, 75% Macedonians).

This is the "Agency for the Promotion and Support of Tourism in the Republic of North Macedonia". Its information office is located in the Gradski Trgovski Centar, along the Vardar, near Macedonia Square. In the absence of a municipal tourist office, this is the place to go for information on visiting the city and the country. But the agency is more concerned with marketing than helping tourists lost in Skopje. It also runs the macedonia-timeless.com website, which is packed with information.

This agency is an offshoot of the Haemus association (haemus.org.mk), which brings together historians, anthropologists and archaeologists. They lead tours throughout the country. In Skopje, several themed tours are offered: Brutalist architecture, Ottoman heritage, Roma culture in Šuto Orizari, love stories in Stara Čaršija, etc. Prices according to number of participants: around €100 for 1-4 people and down to €5-7 for 20 or more. Buses: 3, 3a, 3b, 5, 15, 15a, 23, 27, 35 or 44, "TTs Biser" stop.

This impressive railway and bus station (Железничка Станица/Železnička Stanica) is the centerpiece of the reconstruction plan that followed the 1963 earthquake. Completed in 1981 and designed in a Brutalist style by the chief architect, the Japanese Kenzo Tange (1913-2005), it is set on a 1,400 m-long, 10.5 m-high bridge with ten railroad tracks. This symbol of Skopje's renaissance required 11,000 t of iron - more than the Eiffel Tower - and 70,000^m3 of concrete. See also "Getting around".

This private art gallery (Галерија Остен) hosts frequent exhibitions of great artists: Dalí, Vasarely, Picasso, Rembrandt... The director, the artist Mice Jankulovski (born 1954), is indeed a collector who owns, among others, several paintings and sculptures by Vasarely. Founded in 1945 by the satirical partisan newspaper Osten, the gallery organizes the World Gallery of Cartoons prize (press cartoons) and the Drawing Biennial with an exhibition of the participating artists in February, at the National Gallery, at the hammam Čifte, on the eastern bank.

With its large spider-shaped hall, the Central Post Office (Главната Пошта/Glavna Pošta) is one of Skopje's iconic brutalist buildings. It is the work of the painter and architect Janko Konstantinov (1926-2010). Originally from Bitola, he worked in Northern Europe alongside Finnish architect Alvar Aalto, then in the United States, before participating in the reconstruction of Skopje after the earthquake of 1963. Completed in 1982, the hall houses brightly colored realistic paintings by Borko Lazeski (1917-1993). The back of the building is also remarkable.

This museum (Музеј на Македонската Борба/Muzej na Makedonskata Borba, Muzeu i Luftës Maqedonase) was created in 2011 as part of the "Skopje 2014" project. Installed in a pseudo-neoclassical (and kitsch) building, it presents in a very subjective way the different movements that led to the independence of the country since the ^18th century. The whole is done through 50 paintings made by a Russian artist and 120 wax figures, all almost without any historical object.

This building evoking a white bird (Национална Опера и Балет/Nacionalna Opera i Balet, Opera dhe Baleti Nacional) has almost disappeared amidst the ugly constructions of the "Skopje 2014" project. Yet it was one of the most spectacular achievements of the reconstruction plan that followed the 1963 earthquake. Inaugurated in 1979, it was designed by the Slovenian collective Biro 71, largely influenced by Finnish organic architecture. The interior, with its complex geometric forms, is even more impressive. See also "Going out".

This museum (Археолошки Музеј на Република Северна Македонија/Arheološki Muzej na Republika Severna Makedonija, Muzeu Arkeologjik i Republikës së Maqedonisë së Veriut) was created in 2014 as part of the "Skopje 2014" project. It is located along the Vardar, opposite the "Bridge of Civilizations" footbridge, in a grandiloquent, somewhat ridiculous building with Greek pseudo-columns and a glass façade. It's the country's second-largest museum, after the North Macedonian Museum in Stara Čaršija. Despite its apparent modernity, the presentation is a failure. Explanations are sparse, written too small and placed in showcases far from the visitor. Natural light is absent, replaced by overabundant lighting. Reconstructions, wax statues and contemporary paintings blur the understanding of the real objects. Yet the collections are rich. They cover the period from the Neolithic to the late Middle Ages, in four areas: numismatics (to the right of reception), lapidarium (to the left), and a vast chronological exhibition on the two upper floors. Some of the highlights include gold jewelry from the Hellenistic period, glass amphorae found intact in a Roman tomb at the Zajas site (near Gostivar), domed coins from the Byzantine period, filigree jewelry from the Classical period, and red pottery from the Bronze Age.

Located just south of Macedonia Street, this museum (Музеј на Град Скопје/Muzej na Grad Skopje) is moving: since 1970, it has been housed in the former railway station dating from 1940 and heavily damaged by the earthquake of July 26, 1963. On the façade, the hands of the large clock remained frozen at 5:17 a.m., the hour when the main tremor (6.1 on the Richter scale) destroyed a large part of the city, killing 1,070 people. Alas, this museum, founded in 1949, suffers from funding problems. Works and objects are poorly presented, and the museum is sometimes closed without notice. It does, however, house an important collection of works on the history of the conurbation: archaeology, history, art history, ethnography, architecture and design. The archaeology department is particularly rich. One of its highlights is the astonishing fragment of a Neolithic statuette of the "Adam of Govrlevo" in a seated position, with his phallus still erect after 7,000 years. The permanent exhibition on town planning features the major project to rebuild the city after the 1963 earthquake. The rooms devoted to ethnology showcase the country's minorities, with beautiful Albanian, Roma, Aromanian, Serbian and Jewish costumes. In addition, the museum has several branches on the eastern bank, including the Partisan Underground Workshop Museum and the Stara Čaršija exhibition at the Suli Caravanserai.