Visiting Macedonia: Impressions and Pictures
Macedonia has changed its name to North Macedonia.
Lying on the southern edge of the former Yugoslavia, neighboring Greece, Albania, Serbia, Kosovo and Bulgaria, visiting Macedonia, or what is now known as North Macedonia, feels like visiting an isolated yet peaceful country. A third of the population is Albanian Muslims. This is my second time to the country, and if there are factual errors in this blog, I can only blame myself for them.
The Macedonians launched their first rebellion against the Ottoman Empire in 1689, in what was known as as the Karposh Rebellion, led by Illija Markov Maleshevski and by the female leader Rumena. William Gladstone, a UK politician, spoke in favor of Macedonia to the Macedonian people. The first meeting of the Macedonian revolutionary organization took place in October 1893. The revolutionaries later kidnapped an American female missionary, Ellen Stone. The Krushevo republic was later formed. Jane Sandanski led another revolt.
The Macedonian people launched a rebellion against the Ottomans, whose responded harshly, at least a century prior to other uprisings including uprisings by Greek subjects of the empire.
South Macedonia, including Thessaloniki, was initially seen by Macedonians as part of Macedonia. I was told by a local that until today entire villages in South Macedonia in what is today Greece, speak Macedonian.
In recent years, Macedonia came under increased pressure by NATO, and possibly by the British and Italian intelligence agencies, to change its name to North Macedonia. To summarize briefly, Macedonians see themselves as Macedonian and as descendents of Alexander the Great. The Greek on the other hand, claim a monopoly and believe that Macedonians stole their identity. The truth, like all things, possibly lies somewhere in the middle. Greece, however, would not accept Macedonia as a country in NATO as long as it did not change its name to North Macedonia.
After a massive pressure campaign and after various strings were pulled, the change took place. Macedonia is now North Macedonia while South Macedonia lies in Greek territory.
The streets of Skopje, the capital, tell of its glorious past with nothing but larger than life statues denoting historical figures such as Alexander the Great but also other influential leaders throughout Macedonian history.
Moreover, unlike Serbia that left its socialist buildings in tact, Macedonia chose to coat certain socialist buildings with a baroque facade, leaving them resembling baroque on the surface and yet something appears missing and odd. Perhaps it is the density of the details on the building that make the baroque facade not very convincing but nevertheless unique.
The bombastic statues of figures such as Alexander the Great serve to increase Macedonians national self-esteem and remind them of their glorious past. However, this glorious past stands in stark contrast with a far than ideal present as they face humiliation from Greece and are largely unknown to the rest of the world.
In the course of my trip I visited the Gallery of Contemporary Art and climbed up the mountain of Vodno.
Below are pictures of the Skopje city center, Macedonian architecture and socialist buildings, the Gallery of Contemporary Art, and Vodno. Also depicted is an hydropower dam in the outskirts of Skopke.
