Bigger Than Life

In Skopje, a government plan costing several hundred million euros is creating a brand new, ancient city centre; the project is called Skopje 2014. So far, some 30 government buildings and museums, as well as countless monuments in the classicall style, have been erected in the Macedonian capital, in an attempt to put Skopje on par with Rome and Athens. In some cases, existing socialist structures were incorporated into the new builds. A city looks for a future in history – Macedonia is inventing itself as a nation with historical status based on a model of antiquity that never existed in that form. Will that be something new? Will we buy that (hi)story?