Sunday Morning - Skopje

The tour officially starts this afternoon with a tour of Skopje. But I was up and decided to stretched my legs with a statue walk. Sunday mornings are great times for city walks.  Only a few others up, and its still nice and cool. (Yesterday got too hot to do much walking in the afternoon.)

First I did a little web surfing to find out more behind the nickname of City of Statues

The "Skopje 2014" initiative was announced in 2010 to give the city a more historic appearance to inspire local pride, boost tourism, and help forge a strong Macedonian identity. It was to be a facelift based on great civilizations from the past.

But as with most grand ideas, there was a negative side as well.

The program aggravated Macedonia’s already strained relationship with Greece (Greece objects to the former Yugoslav republic's use of the name Macedonia which Athens thinks implies a claim over its own northern region of the same name). 

The two countries both lay claim to being the birthplace of Alexander the Great and Greece felt Macedonia was now taking credit that is not due. (By the way, the Albanians say the same thing about Mother Teresa.) Alexander's mother was from a city in the northern Greek Territory of Macedonia, thus they feel he is basically a Greek. (The Albanians say the same thing about Mother Teresa whose parents were from Albania although she was definitely born in Skopje not far from my hotel).

In addition many Macedonian are critical that the Euros spent on these "frivolous decorations" should have been used to rebuild the infra-structure and in doing so lower the level of unemployment (which hovers around 30% today.)  Peaceful protesters show their disagreement by defacing the statues with pastel paint in what has been deemed the ‘Colorful Revolution'. The city officials, of course, quickly clear the paint away.

Where do things stand in 2018?

First, the true number of statues in Skopje is unknown. The original plan called for 20 buildings and 40 statues. By 2015, the budget had ballooned from 80 million Euro to over 650 million Euro with over 130 objects by public record and no end to the project in sight. And if you count the many statues less than 6 feet tall (such as those on the Art Bridge and Bridge of the Civilizations) there are literally hundreds.

The current prime minister is working to address the Greek's concerns. He has not only removed the statue of Alexander the Great from the airport and renamed it, but is considering removing several others including the massive one of Alexander the Great in Macedonia Square. 

And Macedonia now says it is ready to add a geographical qualifier to its name to help resolve the dispute. An agreement could include Macedonia adding "Upper," "New," or "North" to its name.

If you are interested in a bit more information on the statue controversy, here are a couple of more complete articles.   link 1   link 2

Now a few snapshots of selected statues. 

The Beggar.

The Divers (if the water was lower you could see she is standing on a platform - and also more clearly the feet of the swimmer in the water).

Of course one includes the ever present cell phone.

And if there is one theme besides "bigness" it would be the idea that you can never have enough weapons. Swords, guns, lances. Anything. 

The NRA would love this one - both a pistol and a rifle....

...or a few lances....

...and at least a sword by your side as you make your point (no pun intended).

A google photos link to all my pictures for this trip thus far - and a whole lot more statues. Check out the many animals, religious figures, a pregnant woman, and of course note the many, many, weapons.