Things to see and do Skopje

Located on the edge of Stara Čaršija, beneath the Skopje fortress, this Orthodox church (Црква Свети Спас/Crkva Sveti Spas, Kisha e Shën Sotirit) and its complex house one of the country's finest iconostases, as well as the tomb of Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary Goce Delčev (1872-1903). Dating from the late ^17th or early ^18th century, it is dedicated to the Ascension of Christ and Christ the Saviour: the term Spas refers both to the Ascension of Christ (forty days after Easter) and to Jesus himself. The proximity of the Mustafa-Pacha mosque explains the discreet architecture of the complex. Viewed from the outside, the church reveals only its tiled roof and black-beamed campanile. Once in the courtyard, we discover the sarcophagus in which lies Goce Delčev, considered a hero in North Macedonia and Bulgaria. It was offered by Bulgaria to Yugoslavia in 1946 under pressure from Moscow, shortly before Tito's break with Stalin in 1948. The church is reached by descending a few steps.

Iconostasis. The church's iconostasis is carved entirely from walnut. It is 10 m wide and almost 7 m high. It was made between 1817 and 1824 by brothers Marko and Petar Filipovski and Makarie Frčkovski, a trio who are also responsible for the iconostasis at St. John Bigorvski Monastery in Mavrovo National Park. All three belong to the Macedonian Mijak minority, renowned for their engraving and painting skills. Divided into five horizontal zones, the iconostasis has only two registers of icons, also made by Mijak craftsmen, the largest of which were added in 1864. But it's the woodwork that really stands out. The double twisted columns supporting the various elements are carved from a single block of wood. The panels, meanwhile, are teeming with finely carved details: plant motifs, a fortified city, animals, monsters, human figures and more. Note the group of three men representing the three craftsmen working the wood, tools in hand. Or the biblical scene of Herod's feast, in which Salome dances in traditional Mijak costume to charm the King of Judea into delivering her the head of St. John the Baptist. Finally, the ceiling features frescoes dating from the ^17th century, rediscovered during restoration work in 1964.

This pleasant 48.6-hectare park (Градски Парк) is located next to the Toše-Proeski stadium and stretches 1.5 km along the Vardar. Created in 1905 by Governor Hafiz Mehmed Paşa, it expanded until the 1970s. It is home to Skopje Zoo, as well as several cafés and restaurants. Among the statues adorning the walkways are one of Macedonia's Bulgarian hero Goce Delčev (1946) and a copy of the "Pudique Venus" discovered in 2008 at the Scupi archaeological site.

This large Orthodox church with salmon-pink walls (Црква Свети Димитриј/Crkva Sveti Dimitrij) dates from the ^18th century. Constantly transformed, it was briefly elevated to the rank of cathedral. If its frescoes, painted after the earthquake of 1963, are without charm, they are famous because of a "miracle": on April 8, 2012, the halos of the saints began to glow in an unusual way. A phenomenon probably due to the humidity of the church during the Easter celebrations.

This mosque (Султан-Муратова Џамија/Sultan-Muratova Džamija, Xhamia e Sulltan Muratit) is the oldest in Skopje. It was erected in 1436 on the site of an Orthodox monastery dedicated to St. George thanks to a donation from Ottoman Sultan Murat II (1421-1451). However, not much remains of the original building as many changes were made, including the restoration completed in 2020. The rectangular building (34.60 x 27.60 m) is preceded by a porch with five arches. The large, classical, tiled roof conceals a decorated dome. The interior space is divided into three naves delimited by two supporting walls and three rows of columns. Dominated by a minaret of 35 m high, the mosque is part of a complex of which two mausoleums and the old buildings of a former medersa (Koranic school) and an imaret (hospice) remain. Next to the latter, to the north, stands the clock tower (Саат-Кула/Saat-Kula, Kulla e Sahatit) which was used to indicate the (variable) prayer times to all the mosques in the city. With a height of 37 m, it was built between 1566 and 1573. For the lower part, a square defensive tower of the old monastery was used. An octagonal stone section was added, topped by a wooden floor. The latter was rebuilt in brick in 1902. Like the mosque, the tower has undergone a recent restoration funded by Turkey.

This stone bridge (Камен Мост/Kamen Most, or Ura e Gurit in Albanian) is the symbol of Skopje: it connects the western and eastern banks of the Vardar River and appears on the city's coat of arms. It attracts an often dense crowd. Sometimes you have to make your way through the improvised stalls of street vendors. Supported by thirteen arches, its deck extends over 214 m in length and 6.33 m in width. The date of its construction is not known. Some evoke Roman or Serbian origins. The bridge is sometimes called "Dušan's bridge" (Dušanov Most) in reference to the Serbian king who would have built it in 1346. But the most likely hypothesis is that it was built by the Ottomans between 1421 and 1481, shortly after the conquest of the city in 1392. In any case, the bridge is associated with the uprising led by Petar Karpoš in October-December 1689, who was captured by Ottoman troops and ended up impaled in the center of the bridge (the supposed location is marked by a memorial plaque). Several times damaged by the Vardar floods, the bridge was consolidated and widened in 1909. Spared by the earthquake of 1963 and closed to traffic in 1967, it was damaged during the civil war of 2001. Important restoration works were then carried out until 2009. On this occasion, its coating and its parapet were redone. The central arch has also recovered its former watchtower with a mihrab, a niche indicating the direction of Mecca.

Located next to the Museum of Northern Macedonia, this mosque (Мустафа-Пашина Џамија/Mustafa-Pašina Džamija, Xhamia e Mustafa Pashës) is the largest and most beautiful in Stara Čaršija. It was built in 1492 as part of a donation from Mustafa Pasha, vizier (minister) to the sultans Bayezid II and Selim ^I. Situated on a small hill, it dominates the old Ottoman town with its 47 m-high minaret. The mosque was once part of a complex comprising a medersa (Koranic school) and an imaret (hospice). It was severely damaged during the 1963 earthquake, and its restoration was only completed in 2011 with financial assistance from Turkey. The building's architecture is simple. It has a square base and a dome 16.3 m in diameter. The ashlar and brick walls are pierced by multiple openings. The white marble porch is supported by four marble columns and covered by three small domes. At the entrance is the mausoleum (türbe) of Ima, Mustafa Pasha's daughter, the fountain for the ablutions of the faithful and the remains of the medersa and imaret. The garden contains the tombs of religious figures and rose beds. The interior is painted with floral motifs and decorated with sculptures. It also features panels bearing calligraphy of the names of Allah, Muhammad and the first four caliphs who succeeded the Prophet (Abu Bakr As-Siddiq, Omar ibn al-Khattâb, Othmân ibn Affân and Ali ibn Abi Talib).

This 18,000 m² square (Плоштад Македонија/Ploštad Makedonija) forms the center of the city. It is marked by the presence of numerous kitsch monuments erected as part of the "Skopje 2014" project. The most imposing is the Horse Warrior monument, as tall as an eight-storey building. Installed in 2011, this 14.5 m-high bronze statue stands on a 10 m-high stone and bronze column at the center of a musical fountain surrounded by eight water-spitting bronze lions. Made in Italy, it depicts Alexander the Great riding Bucephalus. It was designed by local artist Valentina Stefanovska, responsible for several of the city's most recent monuments, including the Macedonian Gate. Initially named after Alexander the Great, the statue was renamed following protests from the Greek government. However, this is not the first time the square has been adorned with a horseman. Under the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, two equestrian statues of Kings Peter ^I of Serbia and Alexander ^I of Yugoslavia guarded the entrance to the stone bridge. These were destroyed by the Bulgarian occupiers in 1941. The square itself has changed name and appearance several times over the last century. For a long time, it was known as Burmali Square, in reference to the ^15th-century mosque that stood there until the 1920s. It was renamed in honor of Marshal Tito in 1945, then Independence Square in 1991, before taking on its current name in 2004.

The banks of the river that runs through the whole of Skopje are well equipped for walking in the city center. Both banks have a pier with a bicycle path. They are also connected by various bridges and footbridges. One notices especially the constructions of the project "Skopje 2014", in particular the "Bridge of Civilizations", very kitsch with its 28 statues of Greek, Bulgarian or Serbian characters. Even more kitschy are the three fake sailboats (and concrete) "moored" on the western bank. One of them houses the hotel-restaurant Senigallia.

Brightly lit at night, this fortress (Скопско Кале/Skopsko Kale, Kalaja e Shkupit) is worth it mostly for the views it offers: it overlooks the Vardar River on the highest point in the city center, 268 meters above sea level. Unfortunately, it is poorly maintained. It is, however, the oldest inhabited site in the city, with discoveries made here dating back to the ^4th millennium BC. The fortifications were created by the Byzantines in the ^6th century from materials of the Roman colony of Scupi, destroyed by an earthquake. But its present structure dates from the Ottomans. There remains a gate and a portion of Byzantine wall to the east and, above all, a 121 m long rampart and restored defensive towers facing the city center. It is possible to walk the walkway during the day. Inside, traces of a Byzantine building, an Ottoman mosque and a medieval Serbian church are visible. It was in the latter that the Serbian king Dušan was crowned emperor "of the Serbs and Greeks" on April 16, 1346, briefly becoming the most powerful ruler in Europe. The fortress also has a museum installed under a glass structure. But it has been closed for several years. Finally, along the southern rampart stands the monument Strength, Glory and Victory created in 1953 by the sculptor Jordan Grabulovski, to whom we owe the Makedonium in Kruševo. It represents a woman holding a laurel wreath at a height of 5 m with a soldier and a small child at her feet.

This stunning rotunda-shaped cathedral (Соборен Храм Свети Климент Охридски/Soboren Hram Sveti Kliment Ohridski) is the seat of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. Designed by Slavko Brezovski (1922-2017) and completed in 1990, it is one of the world's few modernist cathedrals. The interior can accommodate 6,000 worshippers. The dome is adorned with a 5-t chandelier and a 70^m2 fresco of Christ. The iconostasis is 19.50 m long and 12.50 m high.

Located in Stara Čaršija, this caravanserai (Капан Ан/Kapan An, Hani i Kapanit) is Skopje's oldest. Erected around 1460 on the initiative of Ottoman governor Isa-Bey Ishaković, it takes its name from the large scales (kapan) that were used to weigh and tax goods transiting through here. Surrounding a square courtyard, the first floor was used for livestock and merchandise, while the upper floor housed 44 rooms for merchants passing through the city. Today, there are several restaurants and cafés, including the Pivnica An.

Located above the Vardar River, past the Skopje fortress, this national museum (Музеј на Современа Уметност Скопје/Muzej na Sovremena Umetnost Skopje, Muzeu i Artit Bashkëkohor nga Shkupi) was established in 1970. It houses one of the most important contemporary art collections in the Balkans. It was founded after the 1963 earthquake, thanks to an appeal for donations launched by Jean-Paul Sartre and other European intellectuals. A total of 3,000 works were donated by artists and cultural foundations from 60 countries. As a result, the museum presents a fairly comprehensive panorama of the creative output of the 1960s-1970s, much of it European. The building itself is very attractive. Designed by a collective of Polish architects and renovated in 2014, it offers beautiful views over the Vardar and Skopje's western shore. In a vast, immaculate 5,000^m2 space, works by such great names as Pierre Soulages, Niki de Saint Phalle, Kristo, Fernand Léger, David Hockney and Bernard Buffet are on display. Creations from the former Yugoslavia are in the majority, with many works by artists from what is now North Macedonia. Among them are the very fine works of Jordan Grabuloski, creator of the Makedonium de Kruševo. But the main piece is the painting Tête de femme (1963) donated by Pablo Picasso. It is not on display, but can be shown on request. The museum also organizes temporary exhibitions throughout the year.

Located in Stara Čaršija, opposite the Čifte hammam, this white-walled building (Безистен/Bezisten, Bezisten) was used to store merchants' most valuable goods for the night: silks, gold, jewelry, etc. It was built in 1900 on the site of an earlier ^15th-century bezistan destroyed in the great Skopje fire of 1689. With its four entrances, the current complex takes the form of open-air cobbled lanes running around two former warehouses. This rather charming complex now houses a number of stores.

This former hammam (Даут-Пашин Амам/Daut-Pašin Amam, Hamami i Daut Pashës) was one of the largest in the Ottoman Empire. It houses the National Gallery of Macedonia (Национална галерија на Македонија/Национална Галерија на Македонија, Galeria Kombëtare e Maqedonisë), founded here in 1948. The building was erected around 1480 on the initiative of the Ottoman governor of Rumelia Davud Pasha, who later served as grand vizier of the Empire from 1482 to 1497. Like the hammam Čifte, it had two parts one for men and the other for women. The ensemble is surmounted by two domes, which each covered a hot room, and eleven domes above the rest of the facilities. The interior retains some ornaments such as carved stalactites or floral reliefs. It houses nine rooms where some of the most valuable paintings of the country are gathered. In room 1 there is a collection of icons from the ^14th to the ^17th century. Among them, note the movingVirgin of Lesnovo (^14th century) and the Annunciation (^16th century) which incorporates elements of Italian art, while the Holy Spirit is represented by a kind of black beam typical of the Serbian-Byzantine style. This is followed by room 2 dedicated to the "Macedonian Renaissance" (^19th-20th centuries), and then a large space dedicated to contemporary art (rooms 3-9) with works by the great painters Nikola Martinoski (1903-1973) and Petar Mazev (1927-1993). The garden is decorated with statues and sculptures.

In Stara Čaršija, between the Murat-Pasha mosque and the Suli caravanserai, this former hammam (Чифте Амам/Čifte Amam, Çifte Hamami) is covered by two domes and twelve cupolas. It houses temporary exhibitions from the National Gallery. Built around 1450 under the aegis of Ottoman governor Isa-Bey Ishaković, it owes its name to the Turkish term çift, meaning "double": it had one area for women (to the southwest) and another for men (to the northeast). In operation until 1917, it also housed a section reserved for Jewish residents (to the northwest).

This kitsch house (Спомен-Куќа Мајка Тереза/Spomen-Kukja Majka Tereza) was erected in 2009 as part of the "Skopje 2014" project. It is located on Macedonia Street, on the site of the Catholic church where Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, known as Mother Teresa (1910-1997), was baptized. Small, uninteresting exhibition upstairs and chapel on the first floor. The new Saints-Constantin-et-Hélène church and the reconstruction of a ^17th- or ^18th-century tower surround the building.

This triumphal arch (Порта Македонија/Porta Macedonija) was built for the twentieth anniversary of independence (1991) and completed in 2012. In a dubious neoclassical style and 21 m high, it is decorated with 32 bas-reliefs representing so-called "national" heroes: Alexander the Great, the Byzantine emperor Justinian, Samuel ^I of Bulgaria, the Serbian king Marko Mrnjavčevic... It is one of the most expensive achievements of the project "Skopje 2014" (6.3 million euros). The panoramic terrace was no longer accessible during our last visit.

The Holocaust Memorial Center for the Jews of Macedonia (Меморијален Центар на Холокаустот на Евреите од Македонија/Memorijalen Centar na Holokaustot na Evreite od Makedonija, Qendra Memoriale të Holokaustit të Hebrenjve nga Maqedonisë) is located on the site of Evresko Maalo, the former Jewish quarter of Skopje that disappeared in the 1963 earthquake. Created as part of the "Skopje 2014" project, it is installed in a rather ugly gray building. The exhibition recalls the long tradition of local Jewish culture and its brutal end with the deportation of 7,143 Jews from the territory of present-day North Macedonia to the Treblinka death camp in 1943. Today, there are only about 100 Jews left in the country. The Jewish presence in the region dates back to antiquity, but the vast majority of Jews in the Balkans (from Sarajevo to Thessaloniki via Skopje, Štip and Bitola) are descendants of the Sephardim expelled from Spain in 1492 and welcomed here by the Ottomans. At the entrance, the name of the museum is written in Ladino (a language with Castilian vocabulary and Hebrew syntax): Sentro Memorial del Holokausto de los Djudios de la Makedonia. On two levels, the memorial exhibits a cattle car that was used for the deportation of the Jewish inhabitants, portraits and documents of the period, in the form of paintings or interactive screens. The purpose of this place is not only to remember this community, but also to propose bases for reflection for today's multicultural society.

Located in Stara Čaršija, near the Museum of North Macedonia, this caravanserai (Куршумли Ан/Kuršumli An, Hani i Kurshumlisë) is the city's largest. Built in the early ^16th century, it had 60 rooms for merchants, including 32 upstairs all with fireplaces. Its name comes from the lead(kurşumlu in Turkish) that covers its domes. Transformed into a prison in the ^18th century, then into a museum in the 1920s, it now houses the lapidarium of the Museum of Northern Macedonia (Roman steles and statues). Concerts, exhibitions and theater in summer.

With its cobblestone streets, mosques, and caravanserais, the historic "Old Sharia" district (Стара Чаршија/Stara Čaršija, Çarshia e Vjetër) is Skopje's most pleasant. Often referred to as the "old bazaar" or "Old Bazaar" in English, it occupies a large part of the eastern bank. Mostly populated by Albanians and Turks, it has many small shops, a large open-air market and most of the city's old Ottoman buildings. It is a charchia. This term comes from the Turkish çarşı, itself derived from the Persian chaharsu meaning "crossroads". It refers to an urban complex comprising one or more mosques, buildings managed by Islamic foundations, and businesses, part of the profits of which paid for the staff and maintenance of public and religious buildings. A sharia is therefore much more than a simple "bazaar". In this case, it is the largest and best preserved of the Balkans. It was created by the Ottomans from 1392, then modified and enlarged during five centuries. The location was not chosen at random, since there was an emporio here, a Byzantine trading post active since at least the ^12th century. Although the district withstood the 1963 earthquake better than the modern city, it was largely reduced in the 1960s and 1970s by the construction of the Goce-Delčev (south), Krste-Petkov-Misirkov (east) and Nikola-Karev (north) boulevards.