Master’s thesis by Nikola Nikolovski

Graduate school of Engineering, Department of Architecture

The InďŹ&#x201A;uence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma Case Study of Skopje Master thesis

supervisor:

Nikolovski Nikola

Kengo Kuma

Tokyo 2012

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Kengo Kuma for the guidance and inspiration he provided during this past two year. For giving me the opportunity to be part of his laboratory and having the amazing experience of working under his supervision. I would like to thank Prof. Yuske Obuchi for his advises, help and constructive critics that gave me energy and motivation. I would further like to thank all the members of Kuma Lab for their collaboration in the past two years and MEXT for giving me the opportunity to study in Japan; to Divna Pencik, Jelena Kotevska, Leonora Grcheva, Nikola Stakinov and Lazar Dimov for their generous help in providing the necessary materials for the thesis; to Prof. Jordan Sand for having the time to meet with me and discuss the topics of this thesis. I thank Milka Ivanovska for having the patience to read my thesis and give me invaluable feedback. I owe a lot to my parents, Lena and Sotir, and my brother Daniel for they are the people who give me the greatest support in the things that I do. And last, by not least, I would like to thank all my friends, from Japan and from all over the world, for always being there for me; with special thanks to: Caterina, Eitan, Eli, Kaon, Damjan, Bojan and Borko - guys thanks for listening; and Bruno as partner in crime.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction................................................................................................................................................................1 1.1 Background.....................................................................................................................................................1 1.2 Object and purpose of the study...............................................................................................................2 1.3 Signiﬁcance to the ﬁeld..............................................................................................................................3 1.4 Research methodology................................................................................................................................3 1.5 Thesis structure.............................................................................................................................................4

2. On collective memory and trauma..................................................................................................................5 2.1 Collective memory.........................................................................................................................................5 2.1.1 Cultural memory.............................................................................................................................6 2.1.2 Sites of memory ............................................................................................................................7 2.1.3 The city of collective memory.....................................................................................................9 2.2 Trauma...........................................................................................................................................................10 2.2.1 Post –traumatic.............................................................................................................................. 12

3. Analogue case studies........................................................................................................................................14 3.1 Berlin - torn between remembering and forgetting..........................................................................14 3.2 Beirut - civil war that never happened.................................................................................................20

4. Skopje..........................................................................................................................................................................26 4.1 Pre earthquake period – Skopje from the beginning of the 20th century until 1963............27 4.1.1 Urban development from the beginning of the 20th century till 1948.......................27 4.1.2 Skopje’s architecture from the beginning of the 20th century till 1948......................31 4.1.3 Urban development from 1948 till 1963..............................................................................39 4.1.4 Architecture from 1948 till 1963............................................................................................41 4.2 Earthquake – trauma I..............................................................................................................................45 4.2.1 Post-earthquake renewal.........................................................................................................45 4.2.2 Plans for the city center: Kenzo Tange’s plan and Plan 9.................................................51 4.2.3 Implementation of the plan and architectural production in the 70’s.........................53 4.2.4 Outcome.........................................................................................................................................62 4.3 Identity Crises – trauma II.........................................................................................................................70 4.3.1 Post-traumatic development....................................................................................................72 4.3.2 Architectural production between 1991 and 2001............................................................75

4.4 Divided City – trauma III............................................................................................................................79 4.4.1 Urban changes after the ethnic conﬂict 2001.................................................................... 80 4.4.1 Architecture of symbolism........................................................................................................82 4.5 Enforced identity – trauma IV..................................................................................................................86 4.5.1 Political situation in Macedonia between 2006 and 2008...............................................86 4.5.2 Skopje’s center between 2006 and 2008............................................................................ 87 4.5.3 Requiem for a Theater................................................................................................................90 4.5.4 Mother Teresa is Skopjan..........................................................................................................93 4.5.5 Architects vs. Christians .........................................................................................................97 4.5.6 City as a Museum.....................................................................................................................100 4.6 Discussion.................................................................................................................................................109

5 Conclusions...........................................................................................................................................................114 LIST OF FIGURES........................................................................................................................................................118 BIBLIOGRAPHY..............................................................................................................................................................120

1.INTRODUCTION

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

1. Introduction

1.1 Background Skopje is the capital city of the Republic of Macedonia, situated in the central part of the Balkan Peninsula in South-East Europe. With almost seven hundred thousand inhabitants it is the largest city in Macedonia and the country’s political, cultural, economic, and academic center since its independence in 1991. The area of modern day Skopje has been settled since the neolith period 4000 BC, but the urban history starts 1st century AD as Skupi, a Roman military camp. The city was part of the Byzantium Empire, Samoil’s Kingdom and Serbian realm; in 1392 it felt under the Turks and the Ottoman Empire. After 520 years of Ottoman ruling, Skopje’s modern and planned urban history started in 1912 as part of the Kingdom of Serbia with the first urban plan designed 1914. Over the next hundred years the city would pass through turbulent changes with different political systems, architecture and urban planning politics, and would be significantly affected by various wars and a catastrophic earthquake. In 1963, then a provincial capital of Yugoslavia, a catastrophic earthquake struck the city and damaged nearly 80% of its built environment. The reconstruction process completely changed the city’s landscape; more important its historical center was transformed by, then avant-garde, urban and architectural design of the prominent Japanese architect Kenzo Tange. Although a huge investment was made with much help from the UN and 75 nations worldwide over a course of 25 years, Skopje’s center was never completely finished. In the beginning of the 90’s, the space was fragmented, full of voids and fragments of important historical layers. In the course of becoming the national capital and undergoing a changing political system, Skopje’s center was desperately in a need of reconstruction, but the economic decline of the country and the difficult political situation did not provide any opportunities until recently. In February 2010, almost 50 years after the earthquake, a new vision for the city entitled Skopje 2014 was presented to the Macedonian public. The video presentation announced a reconstruction project that had already unofficially started. Without any solid public debate and despite not having

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

consulted experts and professionals in the field, the Government of the Republic of Macedonia ordered a project that would dramatically and completely alter the central core of the city. The vision for Skopje’s center included numerous buildings in a pseudo baroque and neo-classical style, complete with fountains, historicist pedestrian bridges and hundreds of monuments of historical figures; an aesthetic envisioned not only for the city of Skopje but also the identity of the whole nation. Two years after of that presentation, Skopje is today one of the biggest building sites in Europe. The state and the city government are transforming the city into a collage of historicist-pastiche buildings and an open-air museum of historical figures. Despite all the effort of professionals, the public and many intellectuals in the country through various forms of protest and criticism over different aspects of the project, the Government and the city authorities have not changed their opinion on the project that has significant political implications.

1.2 Object and purpose of the study Up to the present, the majority of the writings on Skopje 2014 have focused on the architectural and urban problems, its underlying symbolical meaning, political messages, historical illogicality and various other issues that it has incited; most of the studies reveal the identity politics that are behind this project. The purpose of this study is to focus on the catalysts that led to this approach to reconstruction. The thesis research relies on the presumption that the project Skopje 2014 is not only a product of the identity politics of one government and its political ambitions. Skopje 2014 should not be read only as imposition of new identity by the present government on a city and nation. It suggests an understanding of the city’s urban and architectural history combined with the political and social situation that followed its changes in a broader context. The hypothesis is that the Skopje 2014 project is a product of the traumatized urban history of the city, its fragmented situation and unstable self-image. It is a product deeply connected with the image of collective memory of the pre-earthquake city and a government response to “a detected need”. The objective of this research is to identify to what extent the collective memory has inﬂuenced the Skopje 2014 project and how much of the image of pre-earthquake Skopje has initiated and inﬂuenced this new reconstruction. The extent to which the fragmented state of the urban morphology and the collective perception of the city have given rise to this kind of change will also be explored. The aim of the research is to provide a broader perspective for the new

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

reconstruction in Skopje as the Skopje 2014 project is not a singular historical moment, rather connected to a political regime and a specific historical political circumstance. The research will also provide support to demonstrate that the Skopje 2014 project is the result of the maturing state of a wounded city; city with a longer history of traumatic events. The premise is that a new reading of Skopje’s urban history necessitates treating the earthquake of 1963 as a singular moment of trauma within a continuous narrative which includes its relatively unexplored recent history in the context of architectural and urban development, between1990 and 2006. Finally the research aims to place Skopje 2014 in the context of other projects that deal with memory politics such as the cases of Berlin and Beirut. The purpose of the study is to provide clear vision for the latest events on the plan of architectural and urban development in Skopje. The motivation is to offer research-based materials that will facilitate the comprehension of the origin of the Skopje 2014 project as it clear that once this project is finished, it will be the object of further research as a defining moment in the city’s history.

1.3 Significance to the field When trauma strikes a city, the post-traumatic period focuses on its future development urban development possibilities. Architects and urban planners find great pleasure in experimenting and providing new ideas for these kinds of places as a kind of tabula rasa. The past is usually honored by the symbolic preservation of what are perceived to be the most precious elements of urban history. Memory studies have usually focused on cities that experienced war or severe repressive political systems. This research will provide a distance of 50 years from the traumatic event produced by a natural disaster and study how the course of the post-traumatic development influenced and triggered other events in the city’s history.

1.4 Research methodology After deﬁning the problem and its objective the research was conducted in three stages using different research and methodological approaches such as: analysis of theoretical concepts that support the interpretation of the historical genesis of the city, two case studies on the history of trauma and its effects in the actual architectural and urban reconstruction of the city of Beirut and Berlin and qualitative historical analysis of the architectural and urban development of Skopje. Main methodological technics used are: case study analysis, qualitative historical analysis and interpretation, as well as the comparative approach.

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

The ﬁrst stage involves literature review on studies related to collective memory, collective memory in relation to cities, trauma and post traumatic development. The second stage entails research on cities with a history of trauma and analyzing the process of their reconstruction. This part includes a search for suitable case studies that can provide an analogical comparison with the case study of Skopje. Furthermore, it helps understand the model of chosen reconstruction of Skopje, through comparison with their models. The third stage which constitutes the main body of this research is a synchronic qualitative analysis of Skopje’s history over the past hundred years (since 1912 until 2012). The analysis will examine the socio-political circumstances, urban development and architectural design of each phase of the city’s growth, their relation with the previous phases and the implication on future changes in the city. Finally the research will examine how the Skopje 2014 project is correlated with its past 100 year of urban history, analogically compared with the case studies of Beirut and Berlin.

1.5 Thesis structure The thesis is organized and constructed, according to the following research structure: After the first introductory chapter, the following chapter will focus on collective memory and trauma where the theoretical bases for this thesis will be presented. The third chapter will be dedicated to the analogical case studies of Beirut and Berlin and the analysis of their reconstruction projects. In the fourth chapter research on Skopje will be presented. The following 6 sections will present the pre-earthquake period, trauma I the earthquake, trauma II – crises of identity that followed the country independence in 1991 after the dissolvent of Yugoslavia, trauma III – divided city focusing on the period after the ethnic conflict in 2001 and the last two sub-chapters will focus on the Skopje 2014 project, entitled trauma IV - enforced identity and discussion. Finally, the conclusion remarks will summarize the findings of the thesis and offer directions for future research.

2. ON COLLECTIVE MEMORY AND TRAUMA

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

2. On Collective Memory and Trauma

2.1 Collective memory The concept for collective memory was first introduced by the French sociologist and philosopher Maurice Halbwachs. In his book “On Collective Memory” (Halbwachs 1992) he presents the idea that memory can only sustain in the frameworks of the group. What is remembered about the past is not related to a narration that the individual creates but to the social context that these individuals participate in. Collective memory according to Halbwachs is not socially constructed idea about the past, but socially shared notion; a way that group conceptualizes the past while being in present. Another key point of his theory - individuals are the ones who remember not groups or institutions but these memories can only be achieved if they are located in social frameworks. The difference between history and collective memory, for Halbwachs, is that history is remembered past that we do not have “organic” relations with; whereas collective memory is active past that constricts our identities (Olick and Robbins 1998, p111). This distinction between history as “dead past” and collective memory as “active” later will be used by Pierre Nora in conceptualizing his theory on sites of memory. “The place a group occupies is not like a blackboard, where one may write and erase figures at will. No image of a blackboard can recall what was once written there. The board could not care less what has been written on it before, and new figures may be freely added. But place and group have each received the imprint of the other. Therefore every phase of the group can be translated into spatial terms, and its residence is but the juncture of all these terms. Each aspect, each detail, of this place has a meaning intelligent only to members of the group, for each portion of its space corresponds to various and different aspects of the structure and life of their society, at least of what is most stable in it (Halbwachs1992).” The quote of Maurice Halbwachs on space and collective memory is a sublimate of the dialectic relation that humans have with their built environment. We as humans give the meaning to the places we use, but as well they construct our identity by the memory that is always associated with them. The concept of signifier and signified in this case is dialectic and always changing. We give manning to the inhabited space by

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

duration and our activities in that place, but as well the places are source of memory for the past that constructs our identity. Halbwachs stated that especially in the modern world, monuments and other topographical features are dominant in the construction of a collective memory and identity; consequently, cities are the paradigmatic image of collective memory. There is no doubt that cities are the biggest artifact that humanity has created. They are and will speak about our past, cultures, civilizations, achievements and downfalls. But more important, and not on this grand scale, cities are the locus where we engrave our lives and construct the sense of belonging; that “familiar feeling” that this is “our city”, becomes very significant in today’s fast changing and globalizing world when cities become amalgam from layers of different cultural and historical backgrounds. One of the strong critiques of the Modernism is exactly “blowing apart the relationship between history and the city” (Boyer 1998, p4). This research focuses exactly at this coordinates the dynamic relations of the collective memory with the city of Skopje. It looks at how the collective memory influenced and even produced “Skopje 2014”, the latest project for the city reconstruction. But also how that reconstruction is influencing the way the past will be conceptualized. The project Skopje 2014 rests in the past not only as esthetic and as a tool to reinvent or rewrite history, but its origins too are product of past experiences that existed long before the project was introduced in 2010.

2.1.1 Cultural memory German Egyptologist Jan Assmann(1995) makes the difference between the communicative and cultural memory as different entities of collective memory. According to Assmann, cultural memory is a collective concept for “all knowledge that directs behavior and experience in the interactive framework of a society and one that obtains through generations in repeated social practice and initiations” (Assmann 1995, p126). He delimits cultural memory from the “everyday/communicative memory” and from science or history. Communicative memory for Assmann (1995) is based on the practice of oral history and has a temporal character; it’s considered to last eighty to maximum hundred years into the past. In difference to the communicative memory, cultural memory is distant to the everyday and has fix points in the past that do not change over time. These fixed points are the events that are preserved by “cultural formations and institutional communications”, meaning through texts, rituals, monuments and practice, recitation, observance, all of them sublimated in the term “figures of memory”.

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

Groups are considered to derive their awareness of unity and distinctiveness upon the store of knowledge they have preserved in cultural memory; cultural memory constructs the identity of groups. For Assmann (1995, p130) no memory can preserve the past, its only reconstruction of the past in a contemporary frame of references. There are 2 modes: the first is the potential of the cultural memory that lies in the accumulated archive of cultural formations as a total horizon and the second where each contemporary context gives the objectivized meaning of that archive into its own perspective. Cultural memory is that body of archive of material and immaterial artifacts “specific to each society in each epoch, whose “cultivation” serves to stabilize and convey that society’s self-image” (Assmann 1995, p132). This research will be focused on the city as entity and its architectural landmarks as significant part of the heritage called cultural memory, although it needs to be said that they also have huge role in constructing the everyday, communicative memory. In Assmans terminology the aim of this research is to discover what the influence of the “figures of memory” is in the recent history of Skopje. What kind of role figures of memory play in post-traumatic cities? Under normal circumstances cities develop historical perspective and depository of buildings that play the role of “figures of memory”. They might construct the identity of neighborhoods, communities, cities, but in some cases they even have elevated role and construct the identity of nations. The Reichstag in Berlin is example of that kind of building that constructs identity of a nation. Its reconstruction was as symbol of the first all-German parliament and unified Germany (Deutscher Bundestag). In Skopje’s case at the beginning of 90’s the lack of strong and stable cultural formation, lost in the earthquake, produced identity crises. And in today’s perspective it would be analyzed how the nonexistent-existing figures of memory contributed in the production of new trauma. The “nonexistent-existing figures” are the buildings that were destroyed in the 1963 earthquake, but still present in the collective memory as a stable fix points in the past of the city. Their abuse in the memory politics will be the key point in production of the project Skopje 2014.

2.1.2 Sites of memory French historian Pierre Nora makes clear distinction between memory and history. He argues that contemporary society loses a living relation with the past as a result of passing from memory into history (Olick

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

and Robbinsn 1998, p121). The reasons for this he finds in politics and production of national identities; the historiographical narratives that should provide continuity through identity, replaced memory. For Nora (1989,p8) memory is in permanent evolution of the past, open to “the dialectic of remembering and forgetting, unconscious of its successive deformations”, and history is “the reconstruction of what is no longer”. Memory is the event that actually happened, while history makes a subjective representation of what historians believe is crucial to remember. In this sense memory is democratic, plural and heterogeneous, there are as many memories as there are groups, and history is rigid, curated and its one version of the past. And it’s not only about how many versions of the past exist, cause there are different versions of the history, but is in the live like aspect that memory is subjected to changes opposite to the history that is entirely institutionalized. This dichotomy that is clearly distinguishing according to Nora did not always exist, for him the genesis of this disconnection appears is in the period when nation states were formed in Europe. Before - Nora he suggests memory and history didn’t have such a clear border. In his text Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Memoire, Nora (1989) critiques the position of contemporary society towards the memory. First he discusses about our obsession to preserve as much as possible of our memories. Memory becomes a gigantic storage full with materiality that is impossible to remember. Not only we are obsessed with keeping and preserving everything, we are as well obsessed with creating archives of everything possible. And second, the passage from memory to history crated process of identity redefinition through revitalization of history. Every social group is assigned to remember their own past to preserve in order to construct their identity. Everyone becomes their own historian, nations and ethnic groups, established or marginalized groups, scientific and humanitarian disciplines, organizations and individuals they are all responsible for creating archives; this new situation in our contemporary society has opened completely new economy of the identity of the self; result of this memory politics are the sites of memory. In Nora’s (1989) critique he points that today there no more real environments of memory (milieux de memoire) that’s why sites of memory (lieux de memoire) are produced, in continuation – “If we were able to live within memory, we would not have needed to consecrate lieux de memoire in its name”(Nora 1989, p8). They occur in the moment when an immense and intimate fund of memory disappears, surviving only as reconstructed object. For him the sites of memory are a hybrid of memory and history. For start “there must be the will to remember” (Nora 1989, p8), otherwise it won’t exist as a site of memory; it will be historical site (lieux d’histoire).

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

And then he continues that without the intervention of history, they will be only objects of memory amenable on changes and forgetting. The most fundamental purpose of the lieux de memoire is to stop the time and block the work of forgetting. There are two aspects that concern sites of memory in this research. First situation when there is lack of places, buildings and material artifacts that can be adopted as sites of memory. And second the enforced production of sites of memory. The project Skopje 2014 starts and has clear goal to create history, but as well plays with collective memory. It’s a clear that sites of memory have an important role in the production of project.

2.1.3 The city of collective memory One of the most significant researches on collective memory and city has been done by Christine M. Boyer for her book The City of Collective Memory. Boyer fallows the line of Halbwachs, Nora, Benjamin and she too makes distinction between history and memory. Her study made in the 80’s and early 90’s of the 20th century looked at the historical images and how they were transmitted in the contemporary city; how the city was influenced; but as well she explored the politics of memory, how historical preservation, post-modern architecture and urban design were used for political economical matters. For Boyer the city should be the locus of “collective memory and not simply an outdoor museum or a collection of historical districts” (1998, p16), strongly criticizing the elitist approach of preservation, and curatorial approach to memory where only politically and economically eligible places, buildings and districts are preserved. For her the “City of Collective Memory should entail a continues urban topology... both rich and poor places, honorific places and humble monuments, permanent and ephemeral forms…”(1998, p9). She detects three aesthetic phases in the city’s history: City as Work of Art, City as Panorama and City of Spectacle. The concept of City as Work of Art lasts till the end of the 19th century; it marks a period when builders treated the city as a framed picture representing unified and closed spatial order (Boyer 1998, p33). It’s a period represented with architecture of ceremonial power, monuments that spoke of exemplary deeds, national unity and industrial glory. This city is an attempt to fulfill cultural and aesthetic needs destroyed in “the turmoil of progress” (Boyer 1998, p34). Place de la Concord built in 1839 is a brilliant example of this approach. Modernism, cars and way of traveling will produce the City as Panorama.

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

It’s a city of soaring skyscrapers, erased in-between space and sequential images (Boyer 1998, p46). The city doesn’t have any more static frontal perspective, but multidimensional juxtaposing fragmented travelling views. And most important for this research for Boyer (1998, p46) the City of Panorama was a city without a tradition “the history books were banished”, where architects and city planners by cuts and insertions of their ideal models decomposed the city into an array of homogenous sites, emptied of historical reference. The City of Spectacle is the of the 80’s product of electronic communications; architecture based on the recomposition and recombination of borrowed imagery, perpetual movement of fatuous images and marvelous scenes, paradoxical juxtapositions and mesmerizing allusions, appropriations of historical styles (Boyer 1998, p47), diminishing the city on “play of pure imagery”. Boyer (1998, p65) criticizes that new technologies of cultural production and consumption ﬂooded the city with array of images, and even more “Having too much fun in the City of Spectacle spawns historical amnesia and false reconciliation” (Boyer 1998, p65). “Transforming our present-day cities into outdoor museum whose architectural cityscape and special streets become privileged landscape to explore in pleasure and dismay” (Boyer 1998, p131), a “collective souvenir drawn from the city’s historical past” (Boyer 1998, p440) is the critic for the historical preservation done in contemporary context. Finally the City of Collective Memory is imago for a city that is play of oppositions, has existence of randomness, disturbances, dispersions and accidents (Boyer 1998, p68); city that will give ideal chance of the past, but as well provide possibility for the new to emerge. The relevance of Boyer’s theory in this research is to analyze the stages of development in Skopje according to the aesthetic phases she proposes. The way the imaginary was created in the course of the 20th and beginning of 21st century and the phases the city undergone.

2.2 Trauma Trauma /ˈtrɔːmə, ˈtraʊmə/ • a deeply distressing or disturbing experience • emotional shock following a stressful event or a physical injury, which may lead to long-term neurosis • in medicine serious physical injury or shock to the body, as from violence or an accident (Oxford Dictionaries)

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

The word trauma comes from the Greek language (τραῦμα) and literally means wound. City has often been compared with organism and the word urban tissue is used to address the coherent neighborhood morphology that defines its borders. In this context a city trauma will be an event or experience that causes distress and “injury” that affects the city as an entity. Implicitly and logical, under trauma of city is to enumerate all the natural disasters that literally destroy the physical environment of the cities. So earthquake, flood, tsunami, fire are no doubt the very visible and explicit events of trauma. However in many cases cities are subjected to trauma as a result of events that produce cultural trauma. “Cultural trauma occurs when members of collectivity feel they have been subjected to a horrendous event that leaves indelible marks upon their group consciousness, marking their memories forever and changing their future identity in fundamental and irrevocable ways (Jeffrey C. Alexander 2004, p1)”. Under events that produce cultural trauma are indexed war, terrorist attack, repressive political systems, economic depression… All of these events can have destructive, traumatic, or at least regressive impact on cities. It’s important to note that not only physical destruction of the built environment is an act of trauma. One example is Berlin, trauma there occurred as result of built structure – the Berlin Wall. Economic crises and absence of production as well can result in trauma. Alexander’s position (2004) is that “events do not, in and of themselves, create collective trauma”, they are not “inherently traumatic”, but trauma is “socially mediated attribution.” This is very important to read the trauma in urban environment in the cases when there isn’t actual physical destruction. This research focused on the city of Skopje, as one of the objectives has denotation of its traumas in the past 100 years and examining their interconnection with the collective memory. Majority of the studies done until now focused on the earthquake from 1963 as THE trauma of the city. Through analysis of the recent history three more traumas were detected; all of them as a product of cultural trauma. In a recent study Mijalkovich and Urbanek (2011) are the first one to identify the armed conflict of 2001 as moment of trauma for Skopje, but they fail to recognize the project Skopje 2014 as an act of aggression whit different cause, effect and outcome from the one of the “divided city” they detect. Grceva’s (2011) research has a clear focus on the Skopje 2014 project as singular act; as well she talks about the armed conflict and the practice of the 90’s as a negative influence of the city but they are not categorized as trauma. This research proposes new reading of the most recent history of Skopje. Beside the earthquake of 1963, the declaration of independence in 1991,

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

the armed ethnic conﬂict of 2001 and the project Skopje 2014 are three different events that had traumatic impact on Skopje. All of them with their distinct characteristics produced a new intrusion in the city; more about causes, effects and outcomes of these events in the chapter 4.

2.2.1 Post -traumatic Trauma names that moment after our image of the future is destroyed but before it has been replaced. The term ‘post-traumatic’ refers to the evidence of the aftermath – the remains of an event that are missing. (Lahoud 2010) If cities are our biggest memory depository, the act of trauma deeply affects the collective memory of the inhabitants. As Halbwachs says: “Any inhabitant for whom these old walls, rundown homes, and obscure passageways create a little universe, who has many remembrances fastened to these images now obliterated forever, feels a whole part of himself dying with these things and regrets they could not last at least for his lifetime.” As there isn’t reconstruction that can return a city in the “original” state, every act of trauma forever inherently stays inscribed in the collective memory of the city. And it’s not the loss of artifacts that keeps them remembered, as cities get rebuild, sometimes even better. But it is in the difference between the new (post-traumatic) and old (pre-traumatic) city where the trauma is engraved. The visibility is in the difference between the “image of the future” that the city could have been and the new image that the city is. That’s why the Haussmannization of Paris to this day is an act of destruction in the collective memory of the city. “On the one hand the modern metropolis is composed of the continuous shock of the ever-new; on the other hand the paradoxical formula of ‘continuous newness’ itself bears within it a whiff of the mythical image of repetition of the ever-the-same. On the one hand the modern metropolis smashes the pre-modern physiognomy of the organic city, bulldozing old city districts, mediaeval streets and squares, and setting up glittering new temples to reason and consumption. On the other hand the logic of urban renewal is itself a powerful expression of the return of a mythical content. (Max Pensky 2005, p209)” This quotation of Penksy expresses Walter Benjamin’s notion of the modern metropolis and its dialectic relation with the past. Used in the context of post-traumatic city, this relation is even stronger. In this case the past is beyond reachable. The “mythical image” is impossible to be traced, as the events of trauma not only change the image of the past, but as well the projected image for the future. Lahoud (2010, p19) will say: “the system must reimagine itself or perish” as the projection for the future is the catalyst for rescue from nostalgic longing. “Perish” in this

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

sense is not physical vanishing, but loosing sense for the present and staying trapped in constant retrieval of the past. As Derrida and Benjamin suggest, the past can’t be recovered and only dogmatism and destruction can occur in the name of that recovery (Santos 2005, p183) generating new state of trauma. This research is looking for that connection: the paramount image of the past and project that pushed the city in a state of trauma; the connection between the collective image for the pre-earthquake Skopje and the project Skopje 20014. Geographer Karen E. Till (2011) examines the concept of wounded cities. He deﬁnes them “as densely settled locales that have been harmed and structured by particular histories of physical destruction, displacement, and individual and social trauma resulting from state-perpetrated violence. Rather than harmed by a singular ‘outside event’, these forms of violence often work over a period of many years – often decades – and continue to structure current social and spatial relations, and as such also structure expectations of what is considered ‘normal’.” Cities like Bogotá, Cape Town, Berlin, and Minneapolis are subject of his research and their creative practice and politics. He makes a clear distinction between his concepts of “wounded” and Schneider and Susser’s (2003) concept where the term it’s used to describe a singular event of trauma. Analyzed true Till’s perspective, the past two decades and the latest events in Skopje will place Skopje in the list of wounded cities. This research will provide clear image for this state.

3. ANALOGUE CASE STYDIES

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

3. Analogue case studies After analyzing several cities with history of traumatic backgrounds: Mostar, Berlin, Warsaw, Tokyo, Beirut and New York two case studies were chosen as object of analogue comparison with the case study of Skopje. The criteria for choosing Berlin and Beirut are the memory politics and the way the past was used in the reconstruction of bought cities. These two cities, as well as Skopje are capitals of countries, have suffered tremendous destruction of the physical environment, have complicated historical and political background and their renovations were deeply connected with constructing the identity of the nations. The memory politics or the selective approach in the reconstruction usually favors one version of the past and certain point in time as basis of the whole reconstruction and neglects or completely erases the other contested and opposing narratives. Similar to Skopje, the reconstructions of Berlin and Beirut were conducted on the same principal/ criteria. Parallels between Skopje and Berlin can be seen in the approach and conceptualization of the communist past and the memories from that period. The case of Beirut will give us a better understanding of the falsifying practice that erases the unwanted and creates new memories. The same practice is a basis of the project “Skopje 2014”. All three cities were uniﬁed by their urban landscape before the start of their reconstruction; they all had fragmented and heterogeneous urban morphology mixed with scattered unplanned voids. Furthermore, these case studies prove the methodology of interpretation proposed in this thesis, based on the theoretical concepts of collective memory, ﬁgures and sits of memory, trauma and the concept of wounded city, as universally applicable approach, that is not only appropriate for or applicable on the case of Skopje, but on other cases as well: Berlin and Beirut.

3.1 Berlin – torn between remembering and forgetting The post-uniﬁcation history of Berlin certainly is the best example of memory politics in the recent years of a city reconstruction. As symbol of the World War II, the Cold War and as a capital of a country that has a leading role in EU, Berlin’s rebuilding inevitable took political dimension and brought back the “ghost of the past”.

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

After the fall of the Wall in 1989 Berlin’s urban landscape can be characterized as fragmented, discontinuous with exceedingly heterogynous morphology (Monninger 1991; Ungers 1991; Haeussermann, H. & Kapphan 2004; Hjelmstad and Øren; Neill 2004). Fragments from the Baroque plans of Joseph Lenne, the Neoclassical structures of Friedrich Schinkel, examples of historicism and the Garden City movement, the avant-garde movement from the 20’s mixed with the West Berlin’s “functionalist container architecture” and East Berlin’s “Stalinist concepts in urban planning” project a state of “depersonalized” city with “lost identity” (Fischer and Meseure 1991). Its disconnected state and need for immediate reconstruction made the city exciting playground for practicing architecture and urbanism and it became case study of many different researches in the 90’s. Berlin’s reconstruction became question of politics, history and identity as the city previously has been the capital of 4 different German states; “the empire, war and revolution, democracy, fascism, Stalinism and the Cold War they were all played out here” (Huyssen 2003, p53); with the reunification and Berlin becoming a capital of a newly formed democratic country all this topics were communicated true the process of rebuilding the city; the physical renovation became as well reconstruction of the past. Analyzed the reconstruction 3 topics were defined as main issues of regarding in the process of socio-spatial transformation. First is the question of esthetic approach that divided opinions between favoring “the national tradition” and contemporary high-tech global architecture (Huyssen 2003, p60). The outcome was a process of urban renewal named as “critical reconstruction”. Second issue was how to address the past, with emphasis on two historical dominants: the Nazi and the GDR1 past. For the case of the Nazi period and the Holocaust a position of remembering was developed, towards the GDR past politics of forgetting (Neill 2003, p73). And third theme that in a way sublimates the whole process of reconstruction is “the voids”; the actual physical empty space and the mental voids. The concept of void is the predominant theme in post-unified Berlin. The city “filled” with voids was defended by them; as every void in Berlin is a place of memory and history. As Huyssen (2003, p51) says: “this city text has been written, erased, and rewritten throughout that violent century (XX), and its legibility relies as much on visible marks of build space as on images and memories repressed and ruptured by traumatic events”. Exactly this concept, the concept of missing and presence by missing, would be used in Libeskind’s design for the Jewish Museum. Huyssen(2003, 71) finds it as the only appropriate project built in Berlin 1 Deutsche Demokratische Republik (German), the German Democratic Republic (English), i.e., the former East Germany 1949–90

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

1940

1953

1989

2001

[1],[2],[3],[4] maps of central Berlin

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

that expresses local and national history in a relevant way. Berlin’s renewal to some extent is story about voids. The voids of Berlin are places filled with memories; by reshaping them it’s reshaped Berlin’s past and identity. The main critique of this renewal is the so called “critical reconstruction”. Many scholars and researches point out that the process stands between adopting the concept of Berlin from the pre-1914 Berlin as politically correct past for Germany and the only possible national past, and the post nationalist concept of the global corporate architecture. The whole project completely dismissed the memories of Weimar, Nazi and GDR architecture in the process. Planwerk Innenstadt is Berlin’s inner-city planning and design concept from 1999 that was adopted by Berlin Senate. The plan was criticize for omitting phases of city’s history and adopting the pre-1933 Berlin urban morphology as base for whole reconstruction, denying with this the city “as a cultural from witch has evolved historically and as a place of collective memory” (Neill 2003, p93). The Reconstruction of the Potsdamer and Leipziger Platz is an example of the opposite end dominated by architecture and symbolism of the global corporate world. They do not respect any of the previous phases of the city and treat it as tabula rasa. Creating a world liberated from any kind of past. But the most interesting example of this process burdened with memory politic is the case of the Palast der Republic. The Palast was built in 1976 on the former site of the Berliner Stadtschloss the Royal, later Imperial castle, that use to be residence of the Prussian Kings and German Emperors (Colomb 2007, p284). This building was badly damaged in the World War II and demolished by the GDR government in 1950 in order to make a new urban center for East Berlin (Colomb 2007, p284). Its demolition by some was perceived as symbolic political act - destroying a symbol of Prussian militarism and creating space for a socialist capital (Colomb 2007, p287). In 1976 the newly built Palast become the center of the cultural, political and social life of East Berlin. The building hosted the Volkskammer – People’s Parlament; it had multipurpose hall with 5000 seats, several foyers, restaurants, cafes, galleries, theater, meeting rooms where all kinds of events were organized. Palast der Republic welcomed 60 milion visitors over fourteen years (Colomb 2007, p289). In the beginning of the 90’s after the unification the first calls for reconstruction of the Stadtschloss were made. In the collective memory the building was identified with the “German nationhood itself” and became “strategic site of memory” (Neill 2003). In a period of more than a decade constant public debate was made regarding the future of the Palast. From one side this was the place where unification was voted and

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[4] Berlin Planwerk Innenstadt 1999

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[6] aerial view of the Berliner Stadtschloss around 1900

[7] Palast der Republik, Berlin around 1980

[8] Franco Stella’s design

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

place that connects many East Berliners with important moments of their lives like weddings, concerts, dances, opera… In eyes of the opposition this is a symbol of the GDR’s repressive system and the reconstruction of Stadtschloss will be symbol for the unified nation. In 1994 on international competition for the future of the place Bernd Biebuhr, young German architect, won the first prize with modern design but it failed to call the attention of the public (Niell 2003, p102). Supporters or the reconstruction saw the Catsel as Prussian heritage that has positive or neutral aspect in the German culture. The Palast supporters’ did not have nostalgia for the GDR regime but the act of demolishing was perceived as getting rid of the uncomfortable memories (Colomb 2007, p301). During the 90’s and the beginning of 2000 many actions were taking for saving the Palast. Cultural events were organized in and around the Palast to raise awareness for the meaning of the building; to find a modus to connect the building in the life of New Berlin. At the end the whole process failed to save the building, in stages by 2008 the Palast was completely demolished. Now for this site is planned a new building designed by Franco Stella. The project has a dome and 3 façades imitating the Prussian legacy and Stadtschloss, and a third blank and rigid representing the communist and fascist past (La 2010, p120). The Palast history is an example of “cleaning” unwanted memory from a city’s landscape. As well is a story of hopeless nostalgia for a past that can never come into life. Merged together this two contested narratives will produce a place that is patchwork of forged images. The new building will never be the Castel, it can’t retrieve the already lost memories and the past that is connected with that structure. The new building for many Berliners will be the one for which the Palst was destroyed; this is one of the first stories that will be inscribed in the new place. Berlin’s reconstruction is example of “memory engineering” with all the possible variations: some memories are erased, some are reshaped and some monumentalized.

3.2 Beirut – civil war that never happened From 1975 till 1990, for 15 years, the city of Beirut was one of the main battleﬁelds in the Lebanese Civil War. Traditionally divided on East Christian and West Muslim, the center of the city was “neutral” and traditionally meeting place for all the people living in Beirut; in the war period it became buffer zone between the two parts and place of battle. In 1990, Beirut center, after 15 years of war become a deserted place and the polarization and division between East and West Beirut was bigger

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

than ever before. As a symbol of new beginning, one of the first things that had to be done was exactly restoring of the Central District. In 1991 the government of Lebanon by act of low appointed single private company to be in charge for the reconstruction process. Société Libanaise de Développement et Réconstruction or simply known by the acronym Solidere will expropriate the land in the Central District and start one of the most controversial reconstructions in city history. The question that immediately strikes: why a privet company was chosen for such a delicate and important project. Manly two reasons were used for justifying of this act: first that a company can act more quickly and efficiently; and second that the Lebanese state could not bear the cost and lead a project of that magnitude given its limited resources and capacities (Craig Larkin 2010). One of first thing done by Solider was elimination of the damaged building. In the demolitions already started by the government, Solidere almost wiped away the whole central district. The opposition accuses that more buildings were damaged in this process of “cleaning” then in the fifteen years of war (Makdasi 1997, p662). Buildings that could have been preserved in the process of “cleaning” were damaged beyond repair. Finally only 265 retained buildings plus 26 public and religious buildings were carefully restored (Fricke 2005, p166); rest of the today’s development is entirely new. The whole process of rebuilding the city is problematic from three aspects: first accusations of political corruption and conflict of private and public interests2, then the neo-liberal model of reconstruction that is driven only by economic benefit and production of elite space that can be used by few and last the memory politics, “culture of forgetfulness” where Solider has a selective approach to the reconstruction (Larkin, 2010). The only positive aspect of the project that Larkin (2010) points, and still controversial to some level, is the financial benefit of the international and Arab tourism that this project generated. Beirut’s reconstruction was planned as a crown of the economic rebirth of Lebanon (Makdasi 1997, p670). The center was the place where the story of the Lebanon’s national identity had to unfold and be inscribed (Makdasi 1997, p664). It was left to Solidere to create the future of this highly contested place with various narratives of the identity, many of which carried negative memories. Slowly and systematically one by one Solidere (with government’s blessing) got rid of them. From 1500 building enlisted as historical and architectural monuments by the end of the reconstruction process less than one fifth was preserved; the rest of them one by one were “removed from the list and from the memory of 2 i.e some land owners were forced to sell their land/apartments/buildings to Solidere at very low cost so the reconstruction project would take place. Some residents received very cheap compensations relative to the land price and real estate value (Makdasi 1997).

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

Beirutians” (Andreini 2012). They cleaned the city from all the unwanted memories, aiming to erase the traces of the war. This whole process took many critiques by the public and professionals, but it didn’t stop Solider to create idealized image for what Beirut should be: Levantine oasis in the Middle East, bringing back the city to the metaphorical idealized image of the past “the Paris of the Middle East”. The reconstruction was carefully planned and monitored from Solidere3 and beside the preserved Levantine legacy everything else built had to be ether Levantine like or contemporary generic style of building that could grow anywhere in the world. The final outcome is “lovely” and wellplaned version of “Beirut that literally never was”, “sanitized and safe vision of a happy, prosperous past”(Fricke 2005, p171). This process of “sanitizing” and “will to amnesia” Fricke () describes it as physical inability to remember cause every place that holds critical memory is destroyed to hinder the process of remembrance. Another practice of “sanitizing” the memories is the example of the religious buildings, although magnificently restored, they are “isolated among a wasteland of car parks and empty lots” making them lonely monuments. Removed from their original urban context the buildings are historical sites, but not places of living remembrance (Fricke 2005). One of the major critiques in this process of reconstruction took the new Beirut “souk” designed by Rafael Moneo. Except very few details the whole development is completely redesigned and has nothing to do with the old Beirut souk. It’s a modern place with high-end shops and restaurants, imagined as recapture and recreation of the souk; Makdasi (1997, p686) doesn’t find it as shocking that a place with global brands organized as shopping-mall have to represent recapturing of a souk. The contradiction it’s not in this, nor does he find the souk more genuine then a shoppingmall, startling fact for him is that a shopping-mall can be confused with a souk, referring to a shopping-mall as recreation of a particular historic souk (Makdasi 1997, p686). A fake Vegas like recreation it’s done all over the Central District of Beirut. Buildings with historic looking façades fill the voids between the reconstructed buildings with Levantine esthetic. Solidere monitors and gives rigid regulations for the esthetic outcome of every development. An example, the Patchi building, designed by architect Said Jazairi; its esthetic was conceived by the rigorous regulations of Solider to fit the environment mimicking past that never existed on this specific location. The facades are backdrops that make up a false story and in the same time erase the unwanted memories. 3 Solidere is not the direct investor for whole the project of reconstruction, but it is the supervision organ for installment of the whole plan.

The InďŹ&#x201A;uence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Case Study of Skopje

[9],[10],[11] Images from central Beirut Reconstructed areas by Solidere supervision

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[12] Patchi building designed by Said Jazairi

[13] new Beirut “souk” designed by Rafael Moneo

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

Driven by the market-economy one of key point of the whole reconstruction and making place-identity was as well creation of distinctive brand name (Nagel 2000, p224). Using the rich archeological record from Phoenician times, dating three to four thousand years ago, Solidere tried to make link true the ages to give gloriously past to the citizens and tourists of Beirut. The slogan used by Solidere - “Beirut – the Ancient City of the Future” has the role to emphasizes the unbroken connection between Beirut today and Phoenician’s Beirut (Nagel 2000, p226); with that tying Beirut with more present past, then the recent one. Beirut rebuilding is an example of urban development project that aims to create place identity and project that markets ethnically and “national character” (Nagel 2000, p226).For Nagle (2000, p226) the choice of the Phoenician and Levantine identity for the city is a way of “foster allegiance with Lebanon”. This identity supported by Solidere-state partnership doesn’t address the people as Muslim, Christian, and Druze”, but as a part of “ancient race” whose character has been shaped by the unique position of Lebanon as a gate between the East and West. But while Solidere and the government try to depoliticize and neutralize the central district, the rest of Beirut remains even more religiously divided and the areas are reshaped according to the religious group that are occupying it. Driven by the market-economy logic the central area is gentriﬁed and becomes a privilege of few. In a study among Lebanese youth it was detected that for them Beirut’s Down Town is “distant and out of place, cut off from the realities of contemporary society” (Larkin 2010). The whole plan intentionally isolates and separates the center from its neighboring areas, creating an idolized world of past that never existed. Adrian Forty refers to this process as Counter-Iconoclasm, which involves “remaking something in order to forget what its absence signiﬁed” (Larkin 2010, p423). It is important to emphasize that although this whole project is referred to as a reconstruction, rebuilding and renovation it is actually constructing a new city, building new identity and memories, and making a future. This project doses not respect and regenerate the past but exploits it and reshapes it. Build on a strong idolized image from the collective memory – “the Paris of the Middle East”, this project is absolutely blind towards the 15 years of civil war, as if it never happened. The memory engineering machine completely erased 15 years from the life of a city in order to create sterile elite space for leisure and consumption privilege of few. It is alienated space that has nothing to do with the identity of Beirut and the whole country. Beirut still is a divided city, the center as in the war period is no man’s land, or in this case a few man’s land. The problems of Beirut as a city they do not go away, they are just pushed aside and covered by the bubble of its central district.

4. SKOPJE

Skopje’s urban history in the past hundred years Ottoman

Eclectic

Modern

1920

1930

trauma II identity crisis

trauma I earthquake

Contemporary

1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

trauma III trauma IV divided city enforced identity

2000

2010

countries

natural disasters

wars

years

1910

Post-Modern

balkan wars world war I

world war II

armed etnich conflict

flood

ottoman empire

kingdom of serbia

kingdom of serbia croatia and slovenia

kingdom of yugoslavia

nazi occupation

earthquake

styles

neo-eclectic

post-modernism

international style early modernisam

macedonia

yugoslavia

late modernism

transitional

eclecticism

contemporary

architecture

urban plans

ottoman

Leko’s plan 1914

Mihajlovic’s plan 1929

Kubesh’s plan 1948

Tange’s plan 1965

Grcev, Korobar Pencic’s plan 1997

fire of Skopje 1689 burned by Austrian General Enea Silvio Piccolomini

Skopjeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dominant urban influences in the past thousand years Byzantine

1000

Kale fortress VI century

Ottoman

Eclectic

1100

St. Panteleimon 1164

Modern

Post-Modern

1200

St.Demetrios 1345

1300

Stone bridge 1451-1469

1400

Chifte Hammam mid XV century

1500

1600

1700

Daut Pasha's Amam Mustafa Pasha Mosque 1484 1492

1800

Clock tower 1566-1572

1900

Kurshumli An mid XVI century

2000

Ch. of Holy Salvation XVI century build 1824 interior

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

4. Skopje

from 1912 to 2012 In past hundred years the city of Skopje has been part of five political entities (empire, kingdom, states), influenced by three different state and political ideologies, survived four wars, internal armed ethnic conflict and was heavily damaged by an earthquake with 6.1 magnitude. All of these changes, and some of them considered as traumas in this text, will deeply affect the architectural and urban landscape of the city. The final result is heterogeneous fragmented morphology or the urban fabric witch does not provide a clear identity image; collage of morphologies and memories theoretically may be a perfect base for creative design, but in practice it producing new traumas and additional fragmentation. In this chapter, chronological summary of the past hundred years of Skopje’s urban and architectural history is presented (from 1912 until 2012). The focus will be on the central part of the city the place that sublimates all the changes and the unfinished fragmented state of the city. The chapter is divided into 6 parts. The first part covers the urban and architectural history from 1912 to 1963 and is again segmented in two parts. The first one covers the period till 1948 that is dominated by eclectic approaches and the second from 1948 till 1963 dominated by the international style and functionalism. The earthquake of 1963, the crises of identity gained with the independence in 1991, the armed ethnic conflict from 2001 and the new reconstruction project Skopje 2014 are presented in the next four sections in this chapter through the theory of trauma (wounded city). This research identifies them as four traumatic events in Skopje’s urban history. Each of them is covered with three segments of analysis: political and social situation, urban development and architectural production. The sixth part is interpretative and comparative discussion on the project Skopje 2014 as the main object of this research. This chapter introduces new reading on Skopje’s urban history by giving new systematization of the period after 1963, a classification based on the social, political and cultural changes through which the city has gone and not by the different urban plans that has been, according to the literature, a dominant practice till now . In the findings of this research, these socio -political changes are categorized as traumas since they dramatically changed and altered the future of the city, and produced negative

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

effects on its development like inlayed, polarized and additionally and fragmented urban landscape. This research finds these proposed criteria of systematization as more relevant and suitable for the purpose of this study because it provides better basis for interpretation and understanding of the project Skopje 2014 that is the initial object of this research. The discussion summarizes the findings of the historical overview on Skopje`s urban and architectural development. It illuminates the points that clearly tie Skopje 2014 project with politics of collective memory, as well as figures and sites of memory. It illustrates that the project is not an act of voluntarism of one government and political agenda but a consequence, a product of longer history of trauma that in continuity affected the urban and architectural tissue of the city. Even though the initial aim of the Skopje 2014 project might be regeneration and restoration of the city “lost” image, it clearly fails to accomplish this aim. In fact, Skopje 2014 produces another layer of urban fragments that fail to produce coherent and consolidated image for the city. By enforcing a strong opposition to the already built environment and dramatically transforming the landscape on longer run, in conclusion this project can be interpreted as the new trauma in the city urban and architectural history.

4.1 Pre earthquake period – Skopje from the beginning of the 20th century until 1963 4.1.1 Urban development from the beginning of the 20th century till 1948 At the end of XIX and beginning of the XX century Skopje as a part of the Ottoman Empire was still a traditional Balkan city where the development of the urban environment to a great extent is spontaneous and uncontrolled( Pencik 2011). The ﬁrst signs of modernization and westernization began towards the end of the XIX century with insertion of elements in the existing urban tissue; like building the railway line Thessaloniki-SkopjeKosovska Mitrovica and the planned Majir Maalo. In this period the main administrative and territorial unit of the city was Maalo (Маало- quarter, neighborhood). Administratively the city in 1912 had 75 neighborhoods, but the way the citizens’ perceived and divided it was on seven major neighborhoods (Bakalcev 2004, p49). As a typically Ottoman urbanity the division of the neighborhoods was based on the religious differences of its inhabitants on Muslim, Christian, Jewish and mixed neighborhoods. Majority of the city by 1912 was inhabited by Muslims. • Dimitrie Leko’s plan from 1914 The planed urban history and period of Dettomanisation of Skopje began

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[14] Leko’s plan from 1914

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

after the Balkan Wars (1912, 1913). Skopje became a provincial center of the Kingdom of Serbia, later Kingdom of Yugoslavia. As a part of the official politic, along with other cities in the kingdom, it underwent an intensive period of Europeanization and Deottomanizatio. In 1914 the first urban plan for Skopje was made by architect Dimitrie Leko opening officially the planned history of the city. This plan was strongly influenced by the academicism and as a theoretical background had the city planning according to artistic principles of Camillo Sitte(Pencik 2011; Bakalcev 2004); this can be seen in the way Leko treats public space, squares, parks, monument… One of the qualities of this plan is a rich program of public functions organized around bigger and smaller ensembles that are spared all over the center (Pencik, 2011). . Leko promotes unitary concept of urban form, with radical elimination of the traditional urban base (the traditional Ottoman), and imposing European model of traditional urban form. Using the Camillo Sitte’s artistic principles the plan introduces sensitivity in the context but from other perspective it treats the city as “tabula rasa” by creating artificial irregular urban matrix (Bakalcev, 2004, p.65). This plan was not implemented as the First World War began (1914), but is considered to have positive influence in the cities progress and on future urban plans. • Josif Mihaylovich’s plan from 1929 After the 1914 plan and series of partial urban plans in 1929 on the basis of Leko’s plan Josif Mihaylovich made the first official General Regulatory Plan of Skopje. 1929 was the year when Skopje became the capital of the Vardar province (Вардарска бановина) in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. This plan is considered one of the most important documents in the urban history of the city, not only as a first official plan but as well for its urban design qualities (Pencik, 2011). This plan defined the city in different quarts by function: trading, administrative, intellectual and industrial zone; boldly introduced city squares and axis of connection in the style of “Grand Manner” (Bakalcev, 2004). In difference of Leko’s plan, here the public buildings are symmetrically positioned in relation to the main axis creating large ensembles (Pencik, 2011). But bought of the plans try to introduce radial city matrix and form a ring fallowing the example of Vienna. Mihalovich kept the old trade and commercial axis that starts from the railway station into the street King Petar1, the city square King Petar2, the 1 Street King Petar was renamed into street Marshal Tito during the period of Yugoslavia and today it is named Macedonia 2 Square King Petar same as the street King Petar, during the Yugoslavia period after 1945 was renamed into Square Marshal Tito and today it is named Square Macedonia

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[15] Mihaylovich’s plan from 1929

[16] Mihaylovich’s plan from 1929 detail of the center

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

Stone Bridge, old Turkish bazar (Charshia) and ﬁnishing at the Bit-pazar market. The main public buildings related to trade are placed on the 2 sides of the Stone Bridge forming squares, today Square Macedonia and Squere Karposhovo vostanie. For the administrative and political center of the city Mihalovich chooses 2 locations one on the left and the other on the right bank of the river Varder. On the right side is the state center with building for the city government, the provincial government, army headquarters, police headquarters and the court. In the middle of the left side of the city near the Bit-pazar Market he situates the Skopje’s municipal home, police office, ﬁre station and the city grads. For the intellectual center is chosen the city fortes – Kale that in Ottoman period use to be the home of the army garrison troops. Symbolically the “Acropolis” was planned to be university center with university buildings and students dormitories; and next to the fortress and the old 18centuary church St. Savior was planned a new cathedral church. The industrial zone was plan on the east and south-east part of the city because of the vantage point of the wind rose and the railway service (Pencik 2011). The rest of the city is residential. Except this in the plan are introduced a sports and leisure functions: like stadium, parks, small playgrounds, Luna-park, botanical garden, zoo… All of them occupy a satisfactory amount of space. The period from 1914 to 1948 is period when legislation on urbanism was enacted on the whole territory of the city witch allows control of over the important special and morphological development of the city. This is as well period when is ”implemented the idea for reconstruction of the cities” (Siljanovska, 2001), in a manner of global composition, monumental and rigorous hierarchy, following the example of the grand reconstructions of European cities from the end of 19th and beginning of the 20th century. Or in Christen Boyer’s (1996) vocabulary this is the period when Skopje is constructed as “work of art”.

4.1.2 Skopje’s architecture from the beginning of the 20th century till 1948 At the beginning of XX centaury the architecture of the public buildings predominantly is traditional Ottoman style and vernacular Balkan for the buildings in the housing domain. Under the intensive modernization and Europeanization after the Balkan wars, Skopje’s architecture slowly transforms its identity. At the beginning the buildings are designed under strong inﬂuence of the academism and eclecticism, but already in the 30’s

The InďŹ&#x201A;uence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Case Study of Skopje

[17] the area around the Stone Bridge in Skopje in the Ottoman period presumably around 1900

[18] Skopje before the Officers Home was build, presumably around 1927-8

[19] Skopje around 1940

The InďŹ&#x201A;uence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Case Study of Skopje

[20]Street king Petar before 1940 (today street Macedonia)

[21]Street king Petar before 1940 (today street Macedonia)

[22]Palace of the brothers Chetkushevi (elite residential building)

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

first Modernist buildings will appear in Skopje (Bouzarovski 2010, p66; The Life in Skopje 1918-1941). Architecture build in this period will become apotheosis for the so called Old Skopje (Старо Скопје), Skopje before 1963, and signifying urban esthetic in the traditional European manner. Five buildings build in this period will mark the urban history of the city becoming synonym for that “Old Skopje”: National Theater – King Alexander, Officers Home, Risticeva palace, Old Ralway station and Office for Social Insurance building. These buildings have important role in the collective memory for the preearthquake Skopje image. First three of them represent the image of the “beautiful city” build in a “Grand Manner”, city as a work of art (Boyer, 1996). The Old Ralway station became memorial for the earthquake of 1963 and the fifth building is the first modern buildings in Skopje today representing the progressive forces that influenced the city throughout history. The National Theater –King Alexander designed by Josip Bukovac and Dimitrie Leko, today known as the Old Theater was finished in 1927 and was built in a neoclassical style. Situated on the left river bank next to the Jewish neighborhood the building instantly becomes focus of the of the city’s social life (The Life in Skopje 1918-1941). In 1929, two years after it was finished, opposite the theater, on the right river bank Officers Home by V. Baumaterner was built in eclectic style. It’s the most monumental building in the city with luxurious eclectic interior and grand hall for public events (The Life in Skopje 1918-1941). For the next 35 years this two buildings will become iconic represents for the city and epicenter of the public life. In the earthquake bought of them are damaged and destroyed, becoming a synonym for an era of the city’s past. In the collective memory this two buildings are the image of the “lost city”. This concept of “loss” it was built up in all the historical images of Skopje, which continuously point out the two “grand buildings” which miss from the urban landscape of the city. That is the main reason why these buildings at the beginning of the 21st century, are playing the most important role in the production of a new trauma that will entirely change Skopje. Risticeva palace designed by Dragutin Maslac is large apartment building with shopping facilities on the ground floor placed on the main city square in Skopje. When it was built in 1926 was among the most luxurious houses in the city with advanced technological (The Life in Skopje 1918-1941). The structure survived the earthquake and today its Cultural Heritage and landmark of the city. In the collective memory this building is artifact from the pre-earthquake city. Highly valued and treasured by the inhabitants of Skopje. Something that would be considered as an ordinary building in the rest of Europe, the citizens will place it on the equal level to important historical monuments from the Ottoman period.

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[23],[24],[25] The National Theater – King Alexander, built 1927 today known as the Old Theater designed by Josip Bukovac and Dimitrie Leko

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[26],[27], [28] Officers Home, built 1929 designed by V. Baumaterner

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[29] Risticeva palace, built 1926 designed by Dragutin Maslac

[30] Old Railway station in Skopje designed by Velimir Gavrilovik ﬁnished 1940

[31] Office for Social Insurance today City Hospital, designed by Drago Ibler built 1936

The InďŹ&#x201A;uence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Case Study of Skopje

[32] left National Bank designed by Bozidar Nestorovic(1933) right Trading chamber designed by Milan Zlokovic(1933)

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

The Old Railway station designed by Velimir Gavrilovik was finished in 1940, at the moment when it was completed was the biggest and most advanced train station on the Balkans, first one with underground passages (The Life in Skopje 1918-1941). It’s a Modern building, liberated from decoration and ornament. The only “historical” elements are the arcade galleries, but even here the columns and the capitals are simple and without ornaments and decoration. In the earthquake more than a half of the building was destroyed. The other half with a clock that stopped at the exact time of the earthquake was preserved as memorial. Today in this building is situated Museum of the City of Skopje. In the past 30 years occasionally there were debates for “completing” the structure. One of the proposals was the building to be finished as the city government hall (Vest, 26 September 2005). This is the building that symbolizes the earthquake of 1963, it’s a monument of the disaster that will change the cityscape forever. The City Hospital, or the Office for Social Insurance at the time when was built, is probably the most Modern building designed before the Second World War in Skopje. Designed by Drago Ibler and build 1931 with long horizontal windows, free pilots on the ground floor, roof terrace and “clean” façade is the first public building of this kind. The building today is cultural monument but the collective memory doesn’t recognize it as important symbol of the collective past. All the modern buildings usually are associated with the socialist regime and usually qualified as buildings without distinctive identity. Although in this case is interesting to note that its distinctive red façade makes the building landmark and place of identification in the city.

4.1.3 Urban development from 1948 till 1963 After World War II Skopje becomes a capital of Peoples Republic of Macedonia as a part of Federative Peoples Republic of Yugoslavia (later Socialistic Federative Republic of Yugoslavia). The political system from capitalist monarchy changed into socialism. In difference from the rest of socialist and communist countries, Yugoslavia managed to stay outside of the Warsaw Block. The country never really accepted the model of the so called Socialistic Realism (tvslo 2012). Artist and architects had a complete artistic freedom, although the official state architecture was always Modern; as it was considered that Modernism ﬁtted the guiding principle of Yugoslavia - “brotherhood and unity” (tvslo 2012). • Ludyek Kubesh’s plan from 1948 After the war in Skopje as in many European cities the primary concentration is in the post - war reconstruction, developing the industry and providing new homes for people migrating from rural to urban environment. The

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[33] Kubesh’s plan from 1948

[34] Kubesh’s plan from 1948 detail of the center

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

first urban plan was made in 1948 by the Czech architect Ludyek Kubesh. The plan was envisioned city expansion and shift from radial city matrix into to a linear type of city. Programmatically it was projected developing under the doctrine of the Functionalism and CIAM’s Athens Charter from 1933, methodologically divided the city on for urban zones: living, working, recreation and circulation. And ideologically level the plan aimed to elevate the city on the level: capital city, industrial city and singular unitary system (Bakalcev, 2004). The urban morphology in this plan was influenced by Le Corbusier’s La Ville Radieuse and the concept of linear city. With this plan Skopje undoubtedly entered the era of Modernism. The most dominant city function was housing, that in this case was planned in three bigger centers on west, south-east and north side of the city. The industry was planned in two centers: one for the light and one for the heavy industry. The education facilities were distributed in the housing region and the University “Ss Cyril and Methodius” is placed on the Gazi Baba hill. All the University buildings were free-standing and scattered in the greenery. At the foothill Kubesh he placed the entire student housing. For the main public and governing building in this plan were planned in two centers, one using the already existing governing center on the right side of the river Vardar and the second planned on the left side of the river. This new center was planned under the functionalist doctrine as a “dominant configuration of monumental linear elements” (Pencik, 2011). Interesting element of this plan is that Kubesh planned elimination of the Officers Home and the National Bank the 2 buildings framing the main square, as strategy to break up with the past (Pencik, 2011). It is very important to note that Kubesh’s plan for Skopje is as radical as the Kenzo Tange s plan for Skopje, and that this is the plan that first brakes up the relationship with the traditional urban morphology. But because this plan didn’t influence much the center, in the collective idea for the past, Tange’s plan is the one that is perceived as the plan that will diverge the historical concept. On contrary Tange’s plan (farther explored in chapter 3.2) has clear vision for the historical center reacting protectively and restoration towards the most important historical ensembles.

4.1.4 Architecture from 1948 till 1963 The architecture style in this period as everywhere in Europe is Modernist. Not many buildings from this period will leave a mark in the city’s history and become strong part of its collective memory and architecture history. As it was already mentioned, it’s very important to underline that although socialist country Yugoslavia never accepted the Socialist realism (Socrealism) esthetic. Architects and the other artists had liberty of their artistic and design expression (tvslo 2012).

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[35] ﬁve high-rise apartment blocks symbols of modern Skopje designed by Aleksandar Smilevski (1959)

[36] square Marshal Tito (today Macedonia) in 1959

[37]street Marshal Tito (today Macedonia) in 1959

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

Majority of the buildings that have importance for the architectural history of the city are housing complexes. Among them five high-rise apartment blocks on the right river bank designed by architect Aleksandar Smilevski in 1956 will become symbol of the new modern city. They will survive the earthquake and later be incorporated in the City Trade Center designed by Zivko Popovski in 1974 masterpiece of the Modern Macedonian architecture. Right before the earthquake in 1963 a big department store building was finished on the main city square; building designed by the prominent Macedonian architect Slavko Brezovski. This building is considered to be brilliant continuation of the 1933 modernist building Metropol by architect Milan Zlokovic that stands next to the department store on the square Macedonia. The two of them and Risticeva palata from 1926 for almost 50 years will be the only building defining the main city square after the earthquake. The unique characteristic of the square Marshal Tito3 is that in 100 years history was never fully finished although it was always subject of design. Symbolically this space can be the apotheosis of the city’s history - in constant change and always unfinished and fragmented.

3 Today square Macedonia; in the period of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia known as King Petar

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[37], [38], [39] Skopje’s center in the early 1960’s

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

4.2 Earthquake – trauma I cause: natural disaster (earthquake) effect: 75% of the city is destroyed and 80% of the citizen’s left homeless outcome: fragmented urban morphology “Skopje has endured a terrible catastrophe, but Skopje will be rebuilt with the help of the whole society, it will become a symbol of brotherhood and unity, of Yugoslav and world-wide solidarity”. 27th July 1963 Josip Broz Tito On 26th July 1963 at 5:17am an earthquake of 6.1 magnitudes with epicenter in southern Skopje valley struck the city of Skopje and destroyed more than 75% of its build environment. Killing more than 1000 people, living 200.000 people homeless and producing irreconcilable material damage this tragedy will get world’s attention. United Nations immediately placed relief in form of money, medical and engineering help, building teams, supplies; help was offered from 78 countries. It was a heroic accomplishment that ﬁrst time since end of the World War II brought together the countries from the East and the West block in a humanitarian action (Pencik 2011). In the years to come Skopje got to be known as The City of Solidarity, as the spirit and the actually renewal of the city was an act of worldwide solidarity.

4.2.1 Post-earthquake renewal The post-earthquake renewal of the city was an operation made with a grate help of UN who placed a special fund for the operation; ﬁrst of this kind and unique for the history of the city planning (Skopje Resurgent, 1970). Immediately after the earthquake architect Adolf Ciborowski (known for the renewal of Warsaw after the war) was appointed for project manager of the General Urban Plan; two companies Polservis from Warsaw and Doxiadis Associates (Constantin Doxiadis) from Athens were the ones that designed the plan (Skopje Resurgent, 1970). This plan excluded the central area of city (about 2km2) “with the intention of undertaking a more detailed study through an international competition” (Zhongjie Lin, 2010).

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[40], [41], [42] LIFE magazine images after the catastrophic earthquake in 1963 (center of Skopje) [41]- Officers Home

The InďŹ&#x201A;uence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Case Study of Skopje

[43] Old Railway Station in Skopje, days after the catastrophic earthquake the clock shows 5:17 the moment of the catastroph the remains of the building are preserved until today as remembrance of the earthquake

[44] Josip Broz Tito and his wife Jovanka Broz in visit of Skopje right after the earthquake

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

In December 1964 UN opened and international competition for reconstruction of Skopje’s City Center; Four Yugoslav teams : Slavko Brezovski and associates from Makedonija proekt of Skopje, Aleksandar Djordjevic and his colleagues from Belgrade Institute of Town Planning, Radovan Miscevic and Fedor Wenzler of the Croatian Institute of Town Planning and Edvard Ravnikar and associates from Ljubljana, and four international teams: J.H. van der Broek and Bakema of Rotterdam, Luigi Piccinato (with Studio Scimemi) of Rome, Maurice Rotival of New York and Kenzo Tange of Tokyo were invited to take participation . At the end, the jury decided that “no singe entry was suitable for unqualified adoption” and decided to reward two of the entries with 3/5 of the prize-money Kenzo Tange’s team and 2/5 went to Miscevic and Wenzler. (Skopje Resurgent, 1970) The jury qualified Tange’s plan as “boldly positive” and “found much to admire” (Skopje Resurgent, 1970); they were very pleased by the symbolic gesture with “the City Wall” and “the City Gate”. Aspects that were positively exceled were: the skillful distribution of the main functions, well sited cultural facilities, well developed pedestrian circulation, high quality urban ensembles… summarized as serious, original and inspiring plan (Skopje Resurgent, 1970). The doubts about this plan were: the desirability to concentrate traffic on one entry point, elimination of roads that service main existing buildings, the clear space on the north and south of the city gate that eliminates important housing and industrial areas; as well the jury didn’t like the underground railway station, the location of the university and the strong city wall on the left side of the river that dominated the Old Town(Skopje Resurgent, 1970). The Zagreb plan on the other hand was qualified as a plan that “evoked nether high price, nor explicit criticisms” (Skopje Resurgent, 1970). It was a plan that “avoided exaggeration” and gave a prospect to be realized in stages and allowed flexibility (Skopje Resurgent, 1970). It can be said that Tange’s plan was a bold vision for a brave new world, plan that intended to place Skopje on the worlds map side by side with cities like Chandigarh and Brasilia. However Zagreb’s plan was calm reasonable plan that was offering restoration without many uncertainties. Tange’s version was the one that was more suitable for Yugoslavia, who wanted to show the world that is ready to compete with the other leading nations. After the competition members of Tange’s team: Arata Isozaki, Yoshio Taniguchi and Sado Watanabe, and members of Zagreb’s team: Radovan Miscevic and Fedor Wenzler, together with members of Skopje’s Institute of Town Planning and Architecture will design a new project that soon will be known as the Plan 9; project based on Tange’s proposal for Skopje.

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[45],[46] model of Kenzo Tange’s master plan for Skopje’s center (1965)

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[47] model of Kenzo Tange’s master plan for Skopje’s center detail from the City Gate (1965)

[48] model of Miscevic and Wenzler’s master plan for Skopje’s center (1965)

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

4.2.2 Plans for the city center: Kenzo Tange’s plan and Plan 9 Theoretical concepts of Tange’s plan are based on the revision for the functionalist city and approach that is based on: function, structure and symbol. Space is understood as a communication field, and its formalization represents its structuring. By choosing a specific form for each specific function, the function gets its identity. With the form it’s not only expressed physical function but as well symbolical one (Kenzo Tange 1967; Kenzo Tange 1971; Bakalcev, 2004). This method is used in Skopje’s plan in defining the primary site themes. The City Gate and the City Wall they do not only have a formal reference but as well they have a symbolic meaning, which should communicate with the inhabitants (Kenzo Tange 1971, p30). The competition winning plan and the 9th plan are different but bought of them as primary elements have the City Gate and the City Wall that give a structure and meaning of these plans: • City Gate Symbolically should represent entrance in the city and give a structure for the new axis east-west. In the first plan the City gate starts at the City Gate Interchange; place where the 2 highways meet and all the traffic is transformed and controlled: from high-speed to low speed, from car to pedestrian, from inter-city to intra-city. From this point the pedestrians are directed to elevated pedestrian pathways that are placed between two rows of huge structures that represent the city gate. These structures have dominant vertical shafts that represent the communication cores; the buildings on the pedestrian level place shops and services, and offices and administrative headquarters on the upper levels (Kenzo Tange 1967,p34-35). In the 9th plan instead of City Gate Interchange is planned Transportation Center, with elevated Central Railway Station (in the initial plan was underground), intercity city bus-station, post office, custom office (Kenzo Tange1967, p58). The city gate functions as a transformer, transforming the different types and speeds of motion (Bakalcev,2004). There are 2 types of motion one parallel to the axis east-west that is growing and connects places with similar activities and the motion that is normal on the axis that happens in the vertical shafts that connects places with different activities.

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

city wall

city gate and new center nucleus

culture and scienc

old turkish bazar (charshija) – ottoman legacy

old centar nucleus

education [49] Plan 9

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

All this motion flows into the Republic Square as a first destination of the city. It’s a representational place from the bought sides of river Vardar, designed to be the new modern center of the city. On the left side of the river Vardar it’s placed the Republic parliament and on the right side 100m tall Governmental tower, new lend mark of the city. • City Wall The City Wall encloses the city center, and like a Medieval wall embraces the old and the new unifying them in one organic entity. The functions inside the wall are not expected to significantly grow, but they are expected to metabolically change (Kenzo Tange 1967, p38). The City Wall morphologically is a series of linear residential blocks connected in between with a vertical cylindrical shaft. In the initial competition design the lower part is trapezoid-shaped for earthquake resistance with colonnaded shopping and neighborhood facilities on the inner side and stepped residence on the outer side. The vertical upper portion consists of residential spaces affording privacy and unrestricted view (Kenzo Tange 1967, p38). In the 9th version of the plan the dimensions and the configuration of the wall is changed. In the final version the city wall is constructed as a linear residential blocks with a height of 25m and residential towers of 40m night. • Old and New axis The pre-earthquake city was polarized on the axis south-north. The main traditional axis started at the train station and finished at the BitPazar market. Tange planned its preservation and redevelopment as a historical pedestrian axis. In contrast to that and with the new development plans of the city he established a new axis that starts from the City Gate, continues into the Republic Square, Tourist District, City Square (then Marshal Tito, now Macedonia), City Assembly Hall, People University, Municipal library and the National University; bought of the axis cross on the City Square.

4.2.3 Implementation of the plan and architectural production in the 70’s The post-earthquake period undoubtedly has been the most progressive time of Skopje history. The years of the post-earthquake renewal were ﬁlled with energy and optimism for the future. In politics, in 1961 Yugoslavia became a leader in the Non-Aligned

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

Movement. The young country led by the charismatic leader Josip Broz Tito, was already well established on the world scene. Skopje’s renewal was a project that had to express the progressive force in the society and became a showcase for Yugoslavia’s intention to take a leading international position (Bouzarovski 2010, p267). Tange’s plan was the exact appropriate concept for the political establishment; it was a bold image of a new modern city. And Tange was aware of that when he designed his proposal. His version of Skopje is a planned city under architect’s complete control, a vision that is only possible with a strong centralized control of power. Political factors in Skopje also influenced Tange’s decision. The architect later wrote: “Yugoslavia is a Socialist country in which land is not privately held, the city government had sufficient power to make it possible to introduce our total plan.” (Zhongjie Lin, 2010) While designing the proposal, he had to make choice between approach that will allow the city to “grow and alter in a dynamic and recurrent pattern” or to design “ultimate form on a virtually constitutional basis” where “all development is made to agree with this form”. Tange chose the second approach because he thought that in this case it’s less about simulating the growth and redevelopment of a living city, but he wanted to establish “a total image around which a devastated city could be resurrected”. (Zhongjie Lin, 2010) This image was perfect for the young socialist society. It embodied the progressive spirit of the age. It was new and innovative. Regarding the past, the City Wall symbolically creates “protective” layer that preserves the historical center, but only elements of it were selected for preservation, the rest of it was planned to be eliminated. Wide architectural developments were planned to give the structure of the new center. From 1965 on Skopje turned into a giant construction field. 12.000 new homes were planned to be built by the year of 1970 (Pencik, 2011). The reconstruction of the center started with one of the key elements of the plan – the City Wall. Structure that now was planned as a combination of long linear block and towers; smaller and more modest than initially planned. The architectural language of the designs produced in this period follows up the rest of the world; they are in late Modern style. Influenced by the contemporary architecture at the time majority of the buildings designed in Skopje belong to the Brutalist architecture style. The Palace of Government or The Central Committee built in 1970 was designed as a head-office of the Communist party. The building today places the Government of Republic of Macedonia. Its design is inspired by the traditional Macedonian architecture and it’s a regional interpretation of the

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[50],[51],[52] City Wall - housing complex designed by Bogacev, Gjurik, Malenkova, Seraﬁmovski Ladinska and other (1966-1971)

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[53],[54] The Palace of Government (The Central Committee) designed by Petar Mulickovski(1970)

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

international style; the architect, Petar Mulickovski, who specialized in US and visited Frank Lloyd Wright in Arizona, made a brilliant transformation of the vernacular iconography in then contemporary language. Seven buildings create cluster that capture typical traditional housing profile. Apart from the design language, this building is unique for its structural qualities as well. It’s a hanging structure on a central core. The slabs are cantilevered and they are all holding on the central core. In 1973 on the right bank of the river Vardar on the site where the five highrise of Aleksandar Smilevski were built in 1958, Zivko Popovski in a team with other architects designed probably the most successful architectural and urban project in Skopje. The City Trade Center it is architecture – urbanism that flawlessly incorporates the already existing architecture on the site, makes grate connection with the surrounding and manages to perfectly solve a complex program of a shopping center. The transition from outside to inside and then outside again it’s undistinguishing and there is no strong boundary between in and out. The architect took Tange’s plan in serious consideration and his building is a perfect fit for the New Axis east-west. The architectural language is under strong influence of the Dutch architecture and Van den Broek and Bakema where Popovski specialized. This design becomes “invisible” as an architectural objects and becomes and urban experience. Slovenian architect Marko Mushik won the Yugoslavian competition for university campus in Skopje, complex program of educational, representational, housing and sports facilities. Due to economic reasons the project execution was limited only on the educational facilities and the head-offices for the university. The design made in 1974, was initially built only 60% ; the project is never finished. This design is one that maybe best captures the spirit of Kenso Tange’s plan. This complex built in béton brut (“raw concrete”) has architecture expression which can be compared to the one of Louis Kahn. The approach is Structuralistic and the whole complex as an organism captures the idea of city; going from outside to inside- smaller “streets” (hallways) with offices flow into small “plazas” and hallways with lecture rooms, that all ends up in an aula around witch are placed four auditoriums. The three buildings designed with this concept are situated around big representative plaza that can be approached as well from the main entrance that passes under the head-office building designed as a gate of the whole complex. The Cultural Center of Skopje is the most distinctive and original design that was ever introduced in Skopje. With its strong expressionist energy this project walks on the line towards Deconstructivism although it’s too early to be categorized as Deconstructivist. This progressive design from the

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[55],[56] “Ss.Cyril and Methodius” university campus in Skopje designed by Marko Mushik (1974)

[57] City Trade Center designed by Zivko Popovski and other (1973)

The InďŹ&#x201A;uence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Case Study of Skopje

[58] Cultural Center of Skopje (Complex of Banks and Macedonian Opera and Ballet) designed by Biro 77 (1979)

[59] Cultural Center of Skopje (Macedonian Opera and Ballet) designed by Biro 77 (1979)

[60] model of the Cultural Center of Skopje designed by Biro 77 (1979)

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[61] The Skopje Archive by Georgi Konstantinovski (1968) [62] Macedonian Radio and TV by Kiril Acevski (1971-83)

[63] Museum of Macedonia by Kiril Muratovski and Mimoza Tomic (1972-76)

[64] Student’s Dormitory by Georgi Konstantinovski(1971-75)

The InďŹ&#x201A;uence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Case Study of Skopje

[65] Macedonian Post and Telecommunication Center by Janko Konstantinov (1974)

[66] Complex of Banks by Radomir Lalovic and Olga Papesh (1975)

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

Slovenian group Biro 77 is a complex of 6 buildings: opera, philharmonic, school for music and ballet, cinema complex, bank and shops. As many other ensembles, this one too was never completed. Two of the buildings (the bank and the music school) were designed and built in a manner that complemented and fit the already existing preearthquake blocks. The rest of the complex was designed as freestanding expressive icebergs like buildings. From all planned, only the opera was finished. And even as a solitary object, this building offered Skopje a visual qualities and distinctive cityscape. For many architects and critiques this is the high-end of the post-earthquake renewal Skopje. The Skopje Archive by Georgi Konstantinovski(1968), The Museum of Contemporary Art from the Polish group Tigers (1970), National Library by Petar Mulickovski (1971), Student Dormitory Goce Delcev by Georgi Konstantinovski (1971-75), The Museum of Macedonia from Mimoza Tomic and Kiril Muratovski (1972-76), Telecomunication Center and Post Office from Janko Konstantinovski (1974), The National Bank from Olga Papesh and Radomir Lalovic (1975) and Macedonian Academy of Science and Art by Boris Cipan (1976) all of these buildings are representative and important landmarks of the era called “post-earthquake Skopje”. Architectural production in the 70’s was the golden age for city of Skopje. The designs produced in this period perfectly capture the zeitgeist; the ideas that were introduced are product of dialog with the architecture produced all over Yugoslavia and the world. Unfortunately due to economic reasons majority of these big complexes were never finished. Being created with a very specific esthetic and under particular social and political circumstances, although conceived as genuinely positive, today these buildings have negative reception among citizens of Skopje. As the rest of the cultural legacy from the socialist period produced in Yugoslavia, the architecture too had to be re-read true the lens of the new system (Delanty and Jones 2002, p459); due the complicated situation in the country (chapter 3.3) and today this architectural heritage is abandoned and not recognized as valuable artifact by the inhabitants.

4.2.4 Outcome By the beginning of the 80’s all the enthusiasm and energy for this massive reconstruction of Skopje was exhausted. The economy was in decline. Yugoslavia didn’t have economic power and will to invest in the expensive Skopje project, that at the time its estimated cost is 15% of Yugoslavia’s GNP, up to 3bilion US dollars in 2003 terms (Petrovski 2004) . Thought this decade the building activities will be reduced to minimum or stop; as it was previously stated majority of the ensembles will be never ﬁnished.

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

Comparisson between the initial “Plan 9” and Skopje at the beginning of the 90’ leads us to a conclusion that the initial design idea can’t be recognized: - The City Wall is nearly completed but the presence is much weaker than initially planned; - The City Gate and the new axis it’s almost nonexistent; apart from the Railway Station and an administrative building for the National Bank nothing else is built; - Newly planned Nucleus can’t be recognized and its more of a scattered unfinished complexes in the central area; - There is no trace of the Republic Square planed as new city center and the historical square around the Stone Bridge is in the same state as after the earthquake; - The traffic circulation is incomplete and the street profiles often are not as initially planned. Finally the conclusion is that Skopje’s center at the beginning of 90’s is unfinished; “the outcome is fragmented plan of the contemporary city” (Bakalcev 2004, p95). The morphological fragmentation can be read on two levels: historical and morphological. In Bakalcev’s (2004) research Skopje’s historical fragmentation is read true the primary historical sequences and their “morphological segmentation”; the morphological fragmentation is defined by the different urban fragments and their connection in the defined conceptual motifs. The first concept reads the fragmentation in primary historical sequences: the historical axis north-south, new axis east-west, the ring and the City wall, fragments from the traditional urban base, voids; the second one reads the morphological segmentation, the relation “fragment /whole” (Bakalcev 2004, p96). “Fragmented plan in witch are sublimated historical-morphological motifs, becomes natural condition for the city. In it we can fallow one exclusive line of continuity, but deferential streams that in every timeline section create the real image of the city –city that is not exclusive but inclusive mix of differential components (Bakalcev 2004, p109).” After almost 30 years of reconstruction, Skopje as a sea of heterogeneous urban morphologies will open a new chapter of its political history. Without a clear identity image encountering completely new social domains the city once again will encounter a trauma.

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[67] comparison City Wall Plan 9 vs. Skopje in 1990

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[68] comparison of the nucleus Plan 9 vs. Skopje in 1990

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[69] comparison of the squares Plan 9 vs. Skopje in 1990

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

city wall

city gate and new center nucleus

old centar nucleus

culture and scienc

education [70] Skopje in 1990

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[71] general comparison Plan 9 vs. Skopje in 1990

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[72] Skopje’s fragments and voids

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

4.3 Identity Crises – trauma II cause: cultural trauma – unfinished and fragmented landscape and missing figures of memory effect: negative perception outcome: inlaying On the 8th of September 1991 a Referendum of Independence took place, after which Republic of Macedonia declared independence from Yugoslavia. Skopje became capital of Independent County. Skopje became capital of the Independent Country. From a provincial capital of a federative republic in Yugoslavia , Skopje got a position of a national capital of the newly formed country. Republic of Macedonia despite the independence was also entering a phase of radical changes in the political and economic system known as the “period of transition” from socialism to liberal and parliamentary democracy (Seroka 1993). Except internal difficulties, the country independence was followed by international blockade. Bulgaria, the eastern neighbor of Macedonia was the first country to recognize its independence, but not the existence of Macedonian nation and Macedonian language (Engström 2002, p7). Greece immediately had a reaction to the name Republic of Macedonia (Engström 2002, p8) and started a dispute that until today is not resolved. The acceptance of the country in UN was delayed for 2 years and when it finally entered it was done under the temporary reference The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), a name that it’s still used in all the political organizations where Greece is member. The first 10 years of Macedonian independence were period full of uncertainty and radical political, economic and identity changes: from socialist into liberal democratic society; from self-management and publicly owned companies into privatized market economy; from Yugoslavians people became Macedonians. In this construction of new identity it was very logical to turn backwards into history and past. But Skopje did not have artifacts to provide that “service”, city with a history. As concluded before, in 1991 when Macedonia gain independence, Skopje’s center was unfinished. And further there was no clear and differentiated image: it was not new and modern center, but as well it was not a historical one.

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

The historical parts of the city were not full coherent and monumental to provide stabile identity image.The unity of the historical urban tissue was ruined after the earthquake, but monumentality in Skopje never existed. Unlike many of the Balkan capitals, Skopje was never a capital of a kingdom or principality. The most monumental buildings build before 1940 were erected during Kingdom of Yugoslavia and those were building of the National Theater and the Officers Home (The Life in Skopje 19181941); both they were destroyed in the earthquake. All the iconic buildings existing in 1991 were built after the Second World War in Yugoslavia, and mainly after the earthquake. They were all associated with the previous system and they could not deliver the necessary base of symbol for the new national identity. On contrary, in that moment these buildings became symbol communist past (even though Yugoslavia was a socialist country), architecture that creates deprivation from individuality. And like all the ex-socialist and ex-communist countries, Macedonians too, had to “reshape their built environment and rethink the use of the cultural legacies of the communist period” (Delanty and Jones 2002, p459). In conclusion there was no clear and comprehensible image for what Skopje was and there was no historical “story” that the city could tell. This created frustration and “need for history” opened a period of nostalgia for the so called Old Skopje (Старо Скопје) referring to Skopje before 1963. If it’s analyzed Skopje in 1963 before the earthquake the city that then existed as well couldn’t provide the necessary historical base for creating the newly projected Macedonian national identity. The existing landmark buildings were either from the Ottoman or Kingdom of Yugoslavia period; the Yugoslavian Kingdom had politic of assimilation towards the ethnic Macedonians. But what Old Skopje had was coherent urban tissue and the supposed urban (city=градска) architecture1 with eclectic esthetic that could have gave the city sense of history and duration. This image of the nineteen century like city was preserved in the collective memory of the inhabitants and this image became the loss that Skopje was faced with in the 90’s. As a result of the unsettled changes in society, the difficult international position of the county and the unﬁnished fragmented state on urban level, Skopje at the beginning of the 90’s will be pushed in state of trauma. Naming it as Crises of Identity – this trauma is a culmination of the fragmented and unﬁnished state of the city, the absence of a coherent and clear image for what Skopje is and collective nostalgia for the preearthquake urbanity.

1 What usually is referred under urban architecture is the Western European inﬂuenced architecture in the housing domain

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

As a result of this trauma Skopje was negatively perceived by its inhabitants and nationwide; was labeled as “Soc”2 or “Comunjarski”3 like city. It was developed complete negligence towards the heritage from the postearthquake period and all the modern architecture, negative perception of the whole process of reconstruction and negative outlook on the choice of Tange’s design. For many the choice of Tange’s design was a communist approach that depersonalized the city. But this is not a valid argument as the entire Ottoman legacy in the city was preserved within this plan. What actually was erased was the bourgeois architecture, the legacy from the Kingdom of Yugoslavia that was considered something treating and opposing to the Yugoslavian socialist system. It was symbol of the “cruel capitalism” that repressed the working class. In the 90’s Skopje was facing a reverse situation, precisely this legacy neglected after the earthquake became the most desirable and valuable but it was nonexistent in terms of physical artifacts. Only photos were supporting the memories that built nostalgia for the Old Skopje.

4.3.1 Post-traumatic development The fragmented urban landscape of Berlin in the beginning of 90’s (Hjelmstad and Øren) can be a lot compared to Skopje’s. But unlike Berlin where the city became a capital of a newly formed economic power and the country started complete restoration (Haeussermann and Kapphan 2005), in Skopje’s case Macedonia was economically and politically powerless. Like in Berlin, in Skopje as well the voids are the predominant topic in the urban landscape, but in this case these are earthquake scars. Making a parallel, all the post-communist capitals in the 90’s followed a certain pattern and similarities; they all restructured and reconstructed their built environment (Delanty and Jones 2002, p460). In Skopje after the independence series of architectural and urban design competitions were organized for different parts of the city center; ﬁrst it was organize competition for renewal of the part around the Stone Bridge (1992); competition for renewal of the complex around the Old Railway Station in Skopje(1993); and competition for a Republic Center(1994) (Силјановска 1995). None of them ended with actual construction, but the second prize awarded4design for Stone Bridge competition was later turned into the new urban plan for Skopje’s city center. In 1997, 30 years since Plan 9 was developed, a new plan5 for the central city core was designed by Miroslav Grcev, Vlatko P. Korobar and Mirjana 2 Shorten from Socialist 3 Comungarski (Комуњарски) meaning communist 4 The jury didn’t give ﬁrst prize 5 Detailed Urban Plan (Детален Урбанистички План)

The InďŹ&#x201A;uence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Case Study of Skopje

[73] comparison of the size area of the Small Ring vs. area of Plan 9

[74] competition entry for the area around the Stone Bridge designed by Miroslav Grcev, Vlatko P. Korobar and Jasmina Siljanovska (1997) (second prize)

new-planned

old-existing

1.Cultural Center volume of 2.the Old Theater 3.the Officers Home 4.the National Bank

[75] urban plan for Small Ring designed by Miroslav Grcev, Vlatko P. Korobar and Mirjana Pencik (1997)

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

Pencik. Unlike the Plan 9, that covered an area of almost 3km2 (Pencik 2011, p97), this plan was designed only for the central core of the so-called Small Ring on an area of 0.5km2 (Grcheva 2011, p51). The plan develops the concept of the competition entry from 1992 for the area around the Stone Bridge. It has a clear post-modern approach and it’s generated on the basis of Grcev’s theory for the city; his understanding of the city as fabric of traditional block morphologies – western perimeter and oriental atrium type6 (Грчев 1987). As Grcheva(2011) argues the plan aimed to “to preserve the built heritage from Tanges’s plan, enclosing the fragmented urban blocks and finalizing the contours of the street fronts and public squares.” The design has restoration approach to the right side of the river Vardar; but by analysis the left side, the proposal completely diverged from Tange’s directions and has damaging effect on the existing buildings. Stefanovska and Kozelj(2012) debate that the plan ”envisaged filling in the deserted spaces in the city center and restarting the building activities”. But the filling of the unfinished Cultural Center with perimeter blocks ruins the concept of Biro 77’s design; it eliminates the possibility the complex to be finished or redesigned in a respectful manner. Other debatable part in this plan is the area around the square Macedonian7 and bank of the river Vardar. Some of the volumes in the competition design and later in the Detailed Urban Plan were the exact same as the landmark buildings existing before the 1963; The Old Theater, The Officers Home and The National Bank. Furthermore in the competition design the authors drew facades similar to the historical buildings. In a public debate on A1 TV(2009) one of the authors Mroslav Grcev claimed that with the design was not planned reconstruction of the historical buildings and they used the façades only for representational reasons; but in the same debate Vangel Bozinovski, juryman form the competition, said that the jury chose to award this design for its historical reminiscence. Starting from the 90’s the urban planning in Skopje is based on the traditional urban perimeter type block. This planning methodology was used for all the urban plans in the neighborhoods8 where it was applicable; without much creativity, developers simply infilled the empty and undeveloped building plots. The final result is an inlayed environment that instead bringing the visual qualities of traditional West European cities, it actually has demining effect on the public space.

6 In Grcev’s understanding of the cities have clear morphological boundaries. In his dissertation “Theory for the urban form – contribution towards establishing science for the city” (free translation) deﬁnes the western perimeter and oriental atrium type of urban block as the basic elements of the cities tissue/texture. He argues that freestanding buildings in greenery can’t create city space, as urban street is always deﬁned by continuous scenery of the urban blocks. (Грчев 1987) 7 The historical square, known as Marshal Tito in the SFRY period and Kralj Alexandar in the period before the Secon World War. 8 This method was used for Centar, Debar Maalo, Bunjakovec, Kisela Voda, Taftalidze

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

4.3.2 Architectural production between 1991 and 2001 In the beginning of 90’s Macedonian architectural design is under the strong influence of the post-modern thought, as a reaction to the modernism that was associated with the communist period. Soon this will affect the whole built environment. The postmodern influence mixed with the transitional values progressively will turn into a new design esthetic; by the beginning of the 2000 it’s becomes a style of its own. The basis of this esthetic is outspread plan and fracases with West European historical like ornaments and decoration; mansard roof used for the capitalist logic9 and as bourgeoisie status, contrary to “communist” flat roof. The use of 90degree angle is almost forbidden, as it’s associated with the modernism; the openings preferably are finished with arch. After the 2000 this type of buildings in popular jargon among architects will be named as cakes (торта), but in continuation here they will be referred as transitional designs10. For this period there is a lack of academic study and absence of published research for Skopje (Bouzarovski 2010, p265); especially when it comes to architecture and architectural design literature is nonexistent. This is understandable as the design production is this period it doesn’t have high esthetic value. But it’s crucial to be analyzed as this period had strongly influenced the course of the development in Skopje. The architectural production of this period is mainly in the domain of housing. Newly formed elite expresses its wealth by building wide houses with elaborate façades. This esthetic as an object of desire will pass on the apartment building sector. Lead by the profitability as the only criteria, the designs aim to infill as much as possible volume. The final result is an inlay of the urban environment – process of filling the plots with maximum possible volume. By the beginning of 2000, this process would not significantly affect the city center, because the economical capacities didn`t allowed an investment in this area; but by the mid 2000’s the process of inlay will overtake parts of this area. From design point of view in this period there are no buildings that have produced exceptional architectural values. But from chronological perspective of the transitional design esthetic one building can symbolically mark this process, IK Bank situated in the central part of the city. 9 the mansard roof maximizes the usable volume. 10 (Democratic) transition is the process of transformation of an authoritarian regime in a democratic one. It applies to the transformation of various kinds of authoritarian regimes into pluralistic democracy, accompanied with wider change in the social and economic spheres of the society. In the case of the Central and Eastern European post socialist countries it refers to the transformation from one party rule to pluralist political competition and restructuring of the economy from centrally planned into market economy. In this context the architecture generated in this period would be referred as transitional architecture as its esthetic is product of the social context.

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

IK Banka an office building designed by Olivija Mojsova and Dusanka Shulovik, built in 1997 will be awarded the Grand Prix of the Macedonian Biennale of Architecture –BIMAS11 that year. It is a postmodern design with half glass and half historical façade that resembles the surrounding preearthquake buildings. It’s ironic that exactly Olivija Mojsova in the decade to come will become one of the most productive Macedonian architects, producing numerous buildings and almost deﬁning the new transitional style (BIMAS 2004, BIMAS 2006, BIMAS 2008, BIMAS 2010). At the beginning of the 90ties, among the public, a strong opposition would be slowly formed against any kind and form of contemporary design. Contemporary design is associated with the Modernism that is negatively perceived and associated with the communist regime. This is because the contemporary architecture is perceived as cold, inhuman and the ﬂat roof and architrave opening as symbol of architectural “repression”. In in the early 2000’s the transitional style will be a dominant architecture esthetic witch will inlay the voids of Skopje.

11 The highest architectural prize in the country given by the Architectural Association of Macedonia

The InďŹ&#x201A;uence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Case Study of Skopje

[76] IK Bank designed by Olivija Mojsova and Dusanka Shulovik (1997)

[77] one of the more tasteful examples of the transitional designs

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

post-modern/ transitional inﬁlls

contemporary designs

[78]Skopje’s center around 2006

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

4.4 Divided city – trauma III cause: armed ethnic conflict effect: division of the left and right side of the river; MacedonianAlbanian side; Christian-Muslim side outcome: polarization of the urban landscape with symbols and memorial places that should mark cultural ownership of particular territories In 2001 in a period of several months (between February and August 2001) Macedonia experienced internal armed conflict that mostly took place in the north and west of the country. It involved ethnic Albanian paramilitary organization called National Liberation Army and the Police and Army of Republic of Macedonia protecting the sovereignty of the country. From the Macedonian side this was seen as continuation of the Kosovo war and fight for the nationalist idea of Great Albanian1. From perspective of ethnic Albanians NLA was fighting for the equal rights of the Albanian minority in the country. The conflict follows after series of events2 that happen in the 90’s that created polarized condition between the Macedonian and Albanian ethnicities in the country. Albanian minority was not satisfied with its political status and with its position in the society. The climate of distrust and animosity that build up true the 90’s burst into the conflict of 2001 that fortunately didn’t grew in a civil war, but still negatively affected the democratic transition of the country leaving distrust between the Albanian and Macedonian ethnic community; polarizing every segment of the society between this two ethnic groups. Skopje as a capital and ethnically mixed environment was affected during 1 Great Albania is an irredentist concept of lands outside the borders of the Republic of Albania that are considered part of a greater national homeland by most Albanians based on the present-day or historical presence of Albanian populations in those areas. The term incorporates claims to Kosovo, and territories in southern Montenegro, northwestern Greece (Chameria), the western part of the Republic of Macedonia, and the Presevo Valley, Medveda, and Bujanovac in Serbia. 2 “In 1991, the Albanian community in Macedonia boycotted the referendum on independence and instead staged its own referendum in which an overwhelming majority of the Albanians voted in favor of territorial autonomy from the Macedonians.” (Engström 2001,p13) On 6.11.1992 in a clash between Macedonain police and Albanian demonstrates, the outcome: 4 demonstrates were killed and 36 wounded. On 15.02.1995 in Mala Recica, Tetovo was opened university that by the state was recogniset 0n 9.07.1997 Albanian flags were placed in front of the municipal buildings of Tetovo and Gostivar (cityes with dominant Albanian population) On 11.01.2000 Three Macedonian policemen were killed entering Arachinovo (village near Skopje with predominant Albanian ethnicity)

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

and after the conflict, even though the city wasn`t used as a battlefield during the conflict. Lujuboten one of the hot spots of the conflict is part of Skopje’s territory; Kondovo and Arachinovo are Skopje’s suburbia. On 9th of June 2001 fighters from NLA entered the village of Arachinovo (Vest, 11 June 2001; Dnevnik, 11 June 2001), being only kilometers away from city’s center , Skopje became hostage. The fight for Arachinovo began the unraveling of the conflict. On 13th of August 2001 in Ohrid the members of the biggest Macedonian and Albanian political parties signed the Framework Agreement which changed the character of the Macedonian political system and gave the minorities a constitutive status in the Constitution of Macedonia; by end of September 2001 NLA was disarmed and with that the conflict was officially over. For the past decade the Macedonian society is in constant process of building and preserving good multiethnic relations.

4.4.1 Urban changes after the ethnic conﬂict 2001 One of the key elements of the Ohrid Framework Agreement was decentralization and giving more power to the local municipal governments. Skopje’s local government is divided between a city government and 10 municipalities with their own municipal governments. In 2005, a new territorial division was imposed in the whole country. Skopje as a capital and multiethnic city played important role in this process; the whole territorial division took an ethnic dimension. On urban level two key changes happened: - municipality of Saraj was included in the territory of Skopje - municipality of Cair got a new territorial organization With these new changes the city was stretched on territory of 675km2 with length of 40km. The territory grew for 50% and incorporated rural areas from municipality of Saraj. The number of ethnic Albanian inhabitants from 15.3 grew up to 20.67% and provided necessary census for the city to have the Albanian language as second official language3 (Mijalkovich and Urbanek 2001, p75). Chair was divided on 2 municipalities: Butel peripheral municipality with mix ethnic character and Chair central municipality with dominant Albanian ethnicity; this change led to producing ethnically segregated districts in the city’s center core (Mijalkovich and Urbanek 2001, p75). 3 The census for having another official language apart from the Macedonian is to have more 20% of the inhabitants belonging to an ethnic group that speaks that language.

The InďŹ&#x201A;uence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Case Study of Skopje

[79] Territory of Skopje and its division until 2005

[80] Territory of Skopje and its division after 2005

[81] Central Skopje municipality Center and Chair

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

Today municipality of Centar that occupies dominantly the right side of river Vardar is recognized as “the Macedonian” and Chair as “the Albanian” municipality. These changes additionally deepened the already existing ethical and religious polarization. River Vardar became a mental border between the two oppositions. The left or north side of the river, historically dominated by Muslim population and today mainly inhabited by Albanian Muslims became the “Albanian side” and the right or south side developed in the course of the 20th century became the “Macedonian side”. Each of the ethnic communities now has their own center that can is designed and shaped for the needs of the community. For example the square Macedonia that is considered National Square is not used by the Albanian community for celebrating or protesting. They use the square Skanderbeg that is part of municipality of Chair. Bought communities have “exclusivity” on different parts of the city.

4.4.2 Architecture of symbolism The polarization of the urban landscape was also fallowed by series of architectural projects that can be qualified as cultural demarcation. They crated burden over the city and additionally charged and differentiated the landscape. The Millennium Cross is project lunched in 2002 after the armed conflict. Designed by architect Jovan Stefanovski Zan the development is 66m high metal structure in shape of a cross (Dnevnik, 28 July 2002); it’s dimension make it the biggest cross in Europe(Dnevnik, 30 August 2002) and it overlooks the city of Skopje as it’s placed on the top of the mountain Vodno4. The design was initiative of the Macedonian Orthodox Church as a way to celebrate 2000 years of Christianity. It was officially finished and sainted on St. Mary’s day on 28th of August 2002. On the day of the opening the head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church Mr.Mr. Mihail said: “The Cross on Vodno will become symbol not only of the Macedonian tribulation, but as well symbol of the Macedonian resurrection” (Dnevnik, 30 August 2002). The message is clear, although to great extent it refers to the centauries of Macedonian history of suffering, the pathos, but as well it refereed to the most recent history: the name dispute with Greece and the armed conflict from 2001. The Cross was built as symbol of invincibility and to mark a clear position who owns the city. At night is illuminated and its presence is even stronger. Three years later, on “the other side”, on the borders of Chair and Centar 4 Skopje is placed on the north foothill of mountain Vodno. Its mountain pick can be seen almost from every part of the city.

The InďŹ&#x201A;uence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Case Study of Skopje

[82] Millennium Cross designed by Jovan Stefanovski Zan (2002)

[83] the monument of George Kastrioti Skanderbeg by Toma Tomai(2005)

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

monument of George Kastrioti Skanderbeg 5 was erected on 28 November 2005, the Day of Albanian Flag6. The monument has clear political and nationalistic background. Sculpture of the same historical ﬁgure and similar esthetic already existed on the main city squares in Tirana, Albania and Pristina, Kosovo; placing it on the borders of the two municipalities sends a clear message of cultural demarcation. The small square at the beginning of the Turkish Bazar (Charshija) where the monument is placed became square Skanderbeg, a place for public gatherings of the Albanian ethnic community. This two acts are the most visible and implicit gestures by the opposing communities. Residential neighborhoods are also divided as “Macedonian” and “Albanian” depending on the dominant ethnic group. In 2004 with the help of Skopje businessmen and later major of Skopje, Trifun Kostovski , a group of citizens initiated a reconstruction of the church of St. Mary’s birth. Situated on the left side of river Vardar the church was occupying part of the area that was planned for the Republic Square by Kenzo Tange. It was built by architect Andrea Damjanov in 1835, and burned by the Bulgarian Fascists during the World War Two in 1944; left without restoration, it was completely destroyed by the earthquake of 1963. The reconstruction started in 2005 and the church was ﬁnished in January 2008.

5 George Kastrioti Skanderbeg is one of the most prominent historical ﬁgures in Albanian history. In the XV century he fought agents Ottoman empire and his ﬁgure is symbol of Albanian unity. 6 It’s the Albanian Independence Day. In memory of 28th of November 1912 the day when Albanian Vilayet declaration of independence from the Ottoman Empire.

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

4.5 Enforced identity – trauma IV cause: unfinished city center, fragmented urban landscape of different morphologies and voids, ethnically polarized urban environment and lack of clear identity image effect: reconstruction project Skopje 2014 outcome: This part of the research analyses the reconstruction project Skopje 2014. The methodology has a chronological approach by first presenting the socio-political and urban situation in Skopje before the start of the project. Then by analyzing the three initial projects of the reconstruction this research provides evidences connecting the Skopje 2014 with the previous acts of trauma in the city; presenting the connections and the influences by the general public and the collective memory. The analysis of these three projects should give a better understanding for the positions of Skopje 2014; in the last part of this subchapter will be presented analysis of project Skopje 2014 as a whole.

4.5.1 Political situation in Macedonia between 2006 and 2008 The first 15 years of Macedonia’s transition were filled with many uncertainties: the name dispute and 2 years of waiting for recognition by UN, embargo from Greece, war in Kosovo and thousands of refugees coming in Macedonia, the armed conflict from 2001 and all of this combined with the bad economy in the country produced apathy in almost every segment of the society. In June 2006 the conservative party VMRO-DPMNE came on power after winning the parliamentary election1 . Nikola Gruevski the young leader of the party, Minister of Finance in a previous government, became the new Prime-Minister of Macedonia. Being young, with solid political record and considered to be new face2 he injected hopes for changes and prosperous days in Macedonia. In these two years the economy began showing signs of progress in the awaiting days of Macedonia’s entrance in the NATO alliance. 1 The privies cycle the government was run by the SDSM (Social-democratic party of Macedonia) 2 He was not part of the establishment of the 90’s that led the complicated process of privatization of public capital and the process of transition, where many people of that era were connected with corruption scandals.

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

In April 2008 on the NATO summit in Bucharest Macedonia was not invited to join the alliance as Greece threatened to use veto3 . Despite the strong supports from United States of America and many other members, the unsolved name dispute with Greece one more time became an obstacle of progress. As well this act was implying that Greece would use the same mechanism to prevent Macedonia starting the EU accession negotiations. The high hopes of the citizens of Macedonia that as soon as the country enters the EU and NATO things will start changing were destroyed in the Bucharest summit. In June the same year new elections were organized and VMRO and Nikola Gruevski again got the majority of votes. The high disappointment from Bucharest, the nationalist rhetoric of VMRO and the initially good economic results led to an absolute victory with clear majority in the parliament.

4.5.2 Skopje’s center between 2006 and 2008 The process of inlaying in Skopje’s urban environment that started in the 90’s, in the period between 2006 and 2008 slowly started overtaking the central core of the city; in the mid of 2000’s, in the west part of the Small Ring, buildings with generic esthetic activated the inﬁlling of the perimeter blocks. With minor changes (around the City Trade Center, the Telecommunication Center and street Maksim Gorki ) the center of Skopje did not undergo big transformations from the beginning of the 90’s. Compared with many other communist countries, where their capitals changed their center core, Skopje center still waited for its transformation. The situation of Skopje’s around 2008 was the following: - fragmented urban landscape of different morphologies and voids - polarized urban environment - no clear vision, agenda, plan or a project for city development by authority or relevant institution All of this combined with the global political situation in the country produced a state of apathy. The inlay process by now was detected as cancer of the city. For the majority of the things build in the 90’s and early 2000’s the public had a negative perception. The term of urban maﬁa (Radio Free Europe, 19.07.2012) is used to express the illegal maximization of the built volume. It’s a practice 3 In agreement from 1993 Greece obligates ‘not to object’ to any application for membership to an international organization if Macedonia does it under the FYROM reference.

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

of organize crime where city authorities “find a way” to have open reading of the build regulations allowing bigger volumes4. In this period the nostalgia for the so called Old Skopje was at its paramount. The state of nostalgia points at times when the city was a better place. The words Old Skopje were used to express an idolized image of the city that Skopje never was but exists in the collective memory. It’s the city before the earthquake imagined as monumental and cosmopolitan European city. It is the city before the 90’s when the old housing neighborhood still had a bohemian atmosphere. It is nostalgia for the days when Charshija (the Old Turkish Bazar) was a place where cultures mixed and coexisted. In general it is nostalgia for the mythical state of never changing that in Skopje’s case became supreme as there is a concept of constant loss. The earthquake took the core, the inlay took the residential neighborhoods and the conflict divided the city. The only coherent and well preserved layer of history in Skopje is the Charshija. It is deeply connected in the minds of all Skopjans and is a very precious symbol of history. Memories are connected with that place, but all of them represent communicative memories as Assmann (1995) would define. The Charshija as a legacy from the Ottoman period it’s not perceived as a layer of history connected with the Macedonian nation. As part of the cultural memory the Carshija is not considered for Macedonian nationalistic legacy. More of it, after the armed conflict the Muslim symbols in Charshija made the area more exclusive to the Muslim community. The rest of the city does not have a coherent historical layer. The very few sites succeeded to preserve the coherent morphology from the Old Skopje, like Debar Maalo neighborhood and Bunjakovec, and the rest was entirely transformed in the process of inlaying. The only “artifacts” left from Old Skopje were isolated examples of housing architecture in some parts of Debar Maalo, street Ilindenska, Bunjakovec and fragments of Novo Maalo or other scrubby neighborhoods waiting for their demolition. In this period (2006 1nd 2008) the so-called Old Skopje is in the final phase of disappearing. The only fully coherent parts, except these parts from Old Skopje, are constructed after 1945 in Modern or late Modern architectural style. This architecture has not been accepted from wider public and the establishment for several reasons: First this architecture is associated with the previous socialist system. Though the state propaganda in this period was promoting the concept of 4 For the 60th anniversary of the Skopje Drama Theater in 2006, author Goran Stefanovski wrote the play the “Demon of Debar Maalo” ; the main character Koce much similar as Sweeney Todd, returns in a neighborhood he can’t recognize, it’s the Debar Maalo transformed by the urban mafia. The brilliantly directed play by Slobodan Unkovski is black comedy pointing hot topic of the transitional society but as well expresses enormous amount of nostalgia about Skopje; the Old Skopje before the inlay, the old Debar Maalo bohemian urban neighborhood.

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

brotherhood and unity as core principles of the Yugoslavian socialism, from the perspective of the new national state, this architecture is perceived as assimilatory. In the eyes of the citizens this architecture was labeled as impersonal, an architecture that did not provide Skopje`s distinctiveness/ identity. The architecture from the Yugoslavian period can’t be labeled as soc-realism, but still for the broader public it remained a symbol of that period because it was very difficult to decontextualized it from the socialist regime. The second thing: It wasn`t a symbol for the Macedonian nation. This architecture did not have history and “favored and helped” the neighbor propaganda. Majority of the public and governmental buildings that usually play the role of ﬁgures of memory were built after the earthquake. Only the Parliament was a building built before the earthquake, but its architectural esthetic didn`t have the monumentality needed to become a strong national symbol. And at last the buildings are simply not appalling - the general public dislikes many of the modern buildings. Majority of the building by that time were neglected from the lack of funds to maintain them; and then many public buildings built after the earthquake are built in béton-brut. Beton-brut as esthetic was not popular even in the Yugoslavian period and 25 years later the animosity grew even more. In summary the nostalgia for the Old Skopje is nostalgia for the city that existed between 1914 and 1963, built between 1914 and 1940. Before that Skopje was Ottoman City, and after the World War II everything was built with modern esthetic. The thing that the citizens were missing was an image of a city built like work of art (Boyer, 1997), in the collective memory the pre 1963 Skopje was remembered as monumental and cosmopolitan city; with esthetical characteristic of the late nineteen century cities; the image that can link Skopje with the West European culture. The already presented political situation and the state of nostalgia for a lost city, created a perfect setting for a new city reconstruction. Similar to Berlin and Beirut, this new reconstruction represents the reinvention of the nation signiﬁcant part of the national identity building process that the Government initiated. In the case of Skopje, the reconstruction was also used for politics of memory - reshaping and erasing the unwanted past and reinventing new memories. Three projects announced the official reconstruction that today is known as project Skopje 2014. Their analysis will help for better understanding of the whole project Skopje 2014. These projects show profound connection with the previous stages of Skopje’s development and each of them counterparts one of the traumas; they detonate and validate the traumas, illuminate the politics of memory and citizens desire for reconstruction.

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

4.5.3 Requiem for a theater, requiem for a city The quest for reconstruction of the Old Skopje Theater it is a story directly connected with the trauma of the earthquake. The Old Skopje Theater and the Officers Home built in the 1920’s were landmark buildings of Skopje until 1963. Heavily damaged and as symbol of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia they were demolished in post-earthquake renovation. Exactly these two buildings were the apotheosis of the Old Skopje; the pathos of the nostalgia has been expressed through the longings for their reconstruction. The debate for the Old Theater goes back to 1963 and ever since the questions why it was ruined and demands for its reconstruction (Muratovski). The ﬁrst ideas on paper for symbolic renewal were made in the 90’s, but this was more expressed in terms of morphological and programmatic returning of the building. In the urban plan for the Small Ring from 1997 the volumes of the both buildings5 appear at the exact same places, and the proposed program suggests restoration. Although in several occasions the question was raised through the media, the ﬁrst official call for the theater reconstruction was made in 2004. In that time the Minister of Culture Blagoj Stefanovski, professional theater director, announced restoring of the theater but instead on its original location he proposes the theater to be built on the Officers Home location. No matter how absurd the idea was, it was still welcomed by the citizens of Skopje. The enthusiasm of the comity for restoration went that far that they considered including UNESCO in the process (Bunteska, 12.02.2004). In the same period prominent Macedonian architects like Zivko Popovski, Petar Mulickovski and Kiril Muratovski publicly spoke about the ridiculousness of the idea. They wrote from professional aspect about the qualities of the Old Theater and questioned the idea for building a theater on the main square; a suggestion was offered for new theater with contemporary design on a different location (Popovski). But what architects failed to understand is the nostalgia for this object. Looking forward and always analyzing true the prism of architecture, they undermined the sentimental value of the theater. “The worst thing an architect can do is obstruct building” were the words of the Minister Stefanovski directed to the architects’ opposing his idea (Zojcevska, 14.06.2004). In June 2004 Association of Architects of Macedonia organized a debate on the topic reconstruction of the theater (Unevska, 11.06.2004). The position of the architects’ members of the association was clear - the reconstruction should not take place. The attempts to stop the process were made on several occasions. Architects detected that it was nostalgia 5 The Old Theater and the Officers Home

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

behind this initiative, but no one had a solution for the problem. In February 2005 Jovan Stefanovski – Zan won the competition for reconstruction organized by Ministry of Culture of Macedonia (Nova Makedonija, 21.02.2005). The competition requested from the architects to choose location for the theater between the old and the new part of square Macedonia. Stefanofski’s selected the original position, but he mirrored the building for a better entry position6. As well the volume of his design does not correspond to the original building. In fact Stefanovski’s design only uses the esthetic and the contours of the Old Theater and his design is entirely new building. In October 2005 was announced that reconstruction would start spring 2006, but failed to do until January 2007. The spring of 2006 the country had parliamentary elections when Government change occurred. The new conservative government found a perfect ﬁt for this project in their agenda of reshaping the national capital. On the day when the initial construction started, the Prime Minister Gruevski in his speech will say that this reconstruction is “preserving of the memory of the old Skopjans, that is inscribed in the code of the young generations”(Utrinski Vesnik, 19.01.20017). In the words of the State Secretary in the Ministry of CultureElizabeta Kancevska - Milevska, later Minister of Culture and leader of the project Skopje2014: “The Old Skopje Theater in the soul of many Skopjans left ineffaceable sorrow, hallmark for one era, for rich cultural life, for a trend in architecture. The nostalgia for that beauty along Vardar today becomes realty”(Utrinski Vesnik, 19.01.20017). It is clear for the rhetoric that the establishment considered the memories of the citizens of Skopje when planning the reconstruction of the city center. And although there are only few that are old enough to remember the theater the collective /the community recognizes this building as a lost heritage of the city. This is the reason that the majority of the people do not care that this theater is fake and has nothing to do with the original building. What everyone reads is an act on justice for Skopje; the city gets its symbol back after being deprived in the reconstruction of 1965. Similar with the case of Berlin’s Stadtschloss, it is not about the originality or the qualities of the reconstructed building, it is about historical justice and the idolized image of what these buildings represent. The reconstruction of this building becomes a remedy for the sorrow of the wounded city (Till 2011). It’s not a theater that the citizens need in the sense of the buildings function; it’s the past that they miss; memories not connected with the socialist times and memories that have the potential to help in the construction of the national identity.

6 Next to the original location of the Old Theater after the earthquake was built new bridge with expressway passing over and by the location of the theater

The InďŹ&#x201A;uence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Case Study of Skopje

[84] postcard from the Old Theater existing till 1963

[85] ,[86] reconstruction of the Old Theatre, the new building is mirrored version of the original

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

By using the same strategy a competition was lunched for reconstruction of the Officers Home in the city center. The winning project is a design of architect Kosta Mangarovski which mimics the original facade offering a program of a City Hall. The reconstruction is an ongoing process that has wide support among Skopjans.

4.5.4 Mother Teresa is Skopjan The second project that relates a lot with the identity crises of the city is the project for Memorial House of Mother Theresa. From the initial moment of identity crises in the 90’s until today Skopje never found its “essence”. In the 15 years of independence the city did not succeed to brand itself and create a positive narrative for the urbanity. The concept of fragmented, collage and patchwork did not find a place in the construction of the young nation and the emerging nationalism found it even less suitable. What the city urged to find was a strong distinctive point that will give uniqueness and grates to the city. Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu or know to the rest of the world as Mother Teresa was exactly the figure that city needed. Born in Skopje on 26 August 1910 she lived there until age of eighteen when she left to join the Sisters of Loreto as a missionary. During her life she visited Skopje 4 times in the 70’s and 80’s. Being probably one of the most humane, noble and notable persons of the past century, and coming from a mixed ethnic background7, Mother Teresa was recognized as the desired symbol of unification, attractive enough for the city’s self-promotion. Shortly after her dead a memorial plate was placed near the area of her birth house near the square Macedonia. The family house was situated in the center of Skopje and the neighborhood was transformed after the earthquake. The exact place of the house today is crowded pedestrian street leading to the City Trade Center. The project for a Memorial House of Mother Teresa was initiated in 2007 as an act of honoring the most notable citizen of Skopje. In an international competition organized by the Macedonian Ministry of Culture the winner was the Portogese architect Jorge Marum. Under suspicious circumstances the Government decides to organize another competition inviting Marum and other architects8 for a second competition where Macedonian architect Vangel Bozinovski was the new winner. The new design is a strange, controversial mix of contemporary and vernacular Macedonian architecture. 7 Albanian –Aromanian decedents 8 Architects that have notable museum design in the three years prior the competition, very particular and at same time vague rule that created speculations for the regularity of this competition.

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[87] Old Catholic Church in Skopje destroyed in the earthquake of 1963

[88] Old Catholic Church in Skopje destroyed in the earthquake of 1963

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

The author of this exuberant design describes it as “archeological site in the biography of the humanitarian born in Skopje”( Utrinski Vesnik, 20.08.2007) claims that he has introduced “Macedonian national architecture” in his design (Vest, 08.04.2007). But essential to this is that the Ministry of Culture found that a design from international architect with recognizable contemporary language as not suitable to honor the life of the famous Skopjan. Association of Architects of Macedonia had a public reaction on the Ministry’s decision to dismiss Maurum’s design. A petition from architecture student was made to stop the construction of the tasteless design, but nothing seemed to bring the question on to the level of discussion and debate. The authorities just persuade the project that was supported by the citizens. On the day on the start of initial construction the Prim-minister Gruevski in his speech said: “Small is the number of cities that have given this kind of persons, and even smaller the number of cities that gave persons that are symbol of the humanity and mercy, persons that indebt the world with their self-sacrificing and dedication. Skopje is one of those cities, city that has that privilege to be the birthplace of the Nobel winner Gonxhe Bojaxhiu” (Vlada of RM). Two things are very important in this speech fragment: first the clear distinction of Skopje as one of a kind city, the city that will be remembered as the birthplace of Mother Teresa. As if the city is the one who shaped Mother Teresa into the person she was. The second interesting part of this sentence is calling her by the name of Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, a practice that is often used in all the speeches and writings in Macedonia connected to Mother Theresa. This is a way to unambiguously, directly, connecting her with Skopje and the moment when she was one of them (the Skopjans). It’s a way to preserve the memory that she is born in Skopje, because rest of her life has nothing to do with Skopje. Her life, her mission and everything she has done actually are far away from Skopje and Macedonia. The project for Mother Teresa Memorial House is a clear example of production sites of memory. The building is erected at the exact same place where once stood the Catholic Church in Skopje, where Mother Teresa spent early days of her life. The part of the new built memorial house has interior mimicking a traditional interior from the 1920’s in Skopje. The exterior has elements that remind on traditional Macedonian house. And while the design its “tactless and tasteless homage to Mother Teresa” (Pencic, 2009), it doesn’t fail to remind where she was born. This house is built so a memory could be preserved, that Skopje is one of a kind city that “gave a person that is symbol of the humanity and mercy, person that indebted the world with her self-sacrificing and dedication”.

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[89] Interior of the Memorial House of Mother Teresa [90] Sculpture of Mother Teresa by Tome Seraﬁmovski

[91], [92] Memorial House of Mother Teresa designed by Vangel Bozinovski

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

As prove of this politics of memory dominating Macedonian architecture is the latest announcement related to the project Skopje 2014 that another monument of Mother Theresa would be erected in the center of Skopje with 30 m height.

4.5.5 Architects vs. Christians The third project will mark the moment of a new trauma in the city and is connected with the ethically polarized state of the city. After placing the cross on the mountain Vodno and Skenderbeg’s monument at the beginning of the Charshija, in 2008 the Government of Macedonia together with the Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC) announced a competition for an orthodox church that would be placed on the main city square. Using the argument that all the major cities across Europe have churches on their main squares and illustrating it with examples of Rome, Moscow, Venice and Prague the government announced restoring of the earthquake destroyed church of St. Konstantin and Elena (Vecer, 31.01.2008). The idea immediately produced controversy. The plot for the church was placed centrally on the piazzeta extending from the square Macedonia, clogging two of the most vital streets leading towards the main square (Grcheva 2011, p.70). But more important by placing the church on the main square the space would have been de-secularized and burden with religious and ethnic energy. Same as in the previous two cases, architects reactions were ignored and the Government organized a competition. The selected project is design of young architect Iskra Anastasova and Vladimir Lekovski and has neoByzantine esthetic but as well monumentality that can rarely found in the Macedonian churches. The design has luxurious mosaic façade and golden domes. After the competition, the government passed the authority for execution to Macedonian Orthodox Church. Group of young architects and architecture students revolted from the dismissive behavior of the Government and city authorities, the already missed opportunity for a good design with the Mother Theresa Memorial and revolted from the already started building activities on the left side of river Vardar9 decided to take an action. Organized under the name of First Archi Brigade (FAB) they decided to take a symbolic action by making a performance on the location for the church; to show the actual size of the building and obstruction produced by placing it there. The plan included marking the size of the church in plan by live wall of people and then ﬁling 9 By this moment the Government started building the Old Theater and the building of the State Court, Archive and Archeological Museum (the details for this building follow after this chapter)

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

it with people passing by on a busy day. The action of the protest was organized true the social media and planned for 29.30.2009 at noon. On the day of the protest a group of 4000 contra-protestants alleged spontaneous contra-protest, but presumably organized by MOC and Government supporters, showed up and occupied the performance space. FAB group of around 200 people holding the parole “Don’t rape Skopje” refused to be stopped and decided to make their symbolic rectangle on the main city square. While making it in front of the police they were brutally attacked by an angry group of the contraprotesters by which their action was ended. Later on the organizers of FAB were taken to court for “disturbance of public peace and order”, even though they were practicing their right for a public protest that is guaranteed by the Constitution (Grcheva 2011, p76), and no one of the “spontaneous” contra-protestants was ever charged. The outcome was huge media attention that opened discussion for the construction activities of the government; reactions from the international human rights organizations. This event initiated questions about the freedom of speech and right of protest, and furthermore initiated a debate about the disconnection of architects and other professionals from the ﬁeld from the decision making process on the new plan of Skopje`s reconstruction . It produced an NGO “Ploshtad Slobada”10 that continue to oppose the building practice of the Government. And most important it stopped the process for building a church on the main square. As a reaction to this project the Albanian community demanded reciprocity. Reconstruction of Burmali Mosque that use to exist on square Macedonian but was destroyed in 1925 for building of the Officers Home. This project and the reactions illuminate the divided landscape of Skopje. Although the country desperately tried to build a multiethnic society of coexistence the background was and still is deeply divided. This event of 29.03.2009 symbolically can be used to mark the new trauma of enforced identity with the project Skopje 2014. After this event the discussion and the debate of what the Government is doing and planning to do intensiﬁed. In course of almost one year the opposition will become much louder and not only architects but will include intellectuals from other disciplines. This event will make visible that process of reconstruction and that the few constructions are not a scattered building practice of the Government but a grand plan of reconstruction for the national capital. The choice to name this trauma as enforced identity comes from the nontransparent approach in this reconstruction. In the process of installing the project the Government of Republic of Macedonia did not open public debate or asked for opinion from the professional public. The project was 10 In translation Ploshtad Sloboda is Square Freedom

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

[93] Church St. Constantine and Elena, Skopje before the earthquake [94] competition design for church on square by Iskra Anastasova and Vladimir Lekoski

[95], [96], [97], [98], [99], [100] the protest on 29.03.2009

[101] ﬁnal design for church on squareMacedonia by Iskra Anastasova and Vladimir Lekoski

The Inﬂuence of Collective Memory on Socio-Spatial Transformations in Cities with History of Trauma – Case Study of Skopje

ordered and presented as an accomplished fact. The public did not have other choices except the one that was given. Even if the project or parts of the project have legitimacy among the citizens of Skopje, the approach makes it enforced. The traumatic aspect of this project will be elaborated in the coming two chapters.

4.5.6 City as a Museum In the period between 2007 and 2009 the Government lunched several other projects: competition for a Museum of the Macedonian Struggle where the winner was a design with undefined historicism, boxy building, with dome and modest ornaments; commissioned design for a building of the State Court, State Archive and Museum of Archeology in a quasineo-classicism; as well as a building for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a quasi-neo-classicism. The Ministry of Culture lunched a call for submission of ideas for sculptures, for embellishing the center of Skopje. The urban plan from 1997 was changed by adding new buildings in front of the Cultural Center designed by Biro 77 and proposing places for more than ninety sculptures all over the Small Ring. In February 2010 a video with title “Visualization of the Skopje Centre in 2014“was promoted by the mayor of Skopje. In a festive mood was announced: “Skopje needs a new image. We will turn it from a city in a grey, soc-realistic style into one with an aesthetic nature (Makedonska nacija, 05.02.2010).” The reconstruction plan announced by the projects previously elaborated, in that moment got a clear and final shape. The video is catchy six minute animation with dramatic music in the background, done over an actual panoramic video of the Skopje depicting city center’s future. Apart from the already planned buildings on the left side of river Varder the video shows: two more buildings in front of the Cultural Center, several pedestrian bridges decorated with sculptures, new buildings on the square Macedonia, renovation of the Parliament with a dome reminding on the German Bundestag, numerous new sculptures of historical figures, change of the facades of already existing modern buildings in the city center, 25m high monument with fountain of Alexander the Great and a Triumphal Arch decorated with motives from the Macedonian History. The video shows a complete new look of Skopje’s center - sterile image of a historic like city. In terms of aesthetics, the project lacks a clear definition except the mimics of past true decoration and ornaments on the façades that explore classic styles. In the words of Skopje’s mayor Koce Trajanovski : “with ‘Skopje 2014’ the city will gain identity, cause the one that is now has nothing recognizable” (Utrinski Vesnik, 09.02.2010). But the analyses of the project do not provide clear identity image, except the

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[102], [103],[104], [105], [106], [107], [108],[109, [110] snap-shots from the video presentation of the project Skopje 2014

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[111] Constitutional Court, Archaeological Museum and State Archives designed by Slobodan Zivkovski

[112] left -State Prosecution Office and Finance Police right - Ministry of Foreign Affairs and bridge “Eye”

[113] Museum of the Macedonian Struggle

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notion of past and monumentality. On urban level the project does not have a clear space strategy. It is basic infilling of empty space with buildings placed in front of other modern architecture buildings in order to cover them. The second strategy is exaggerating the height of the statues to gain monumentality. On architectural level the designs do not work even as eclecticism as they are sum of historic ornaments without design approach. The media and citizens referring to them as “baroque” buildings but except the part of exaggeration they have nothing to do with Baroque architecture. In the media the project is seen as part of a bigger nationalistic cultural policy for redefinition of Macedonian identity with greater accent on Ancient Macedonia history, referred as the process of “Antiquisation”. But as Jasna Koteska (2011) argues this does not fully explain the Skopje 2014 project. Apart from the monuments of Alexander the Great, the sculpture of his parents Fillip II and Olympia, and some building designs that explore the neoclassical aesthetic, this project includes wider line of history in order to create direct link of Modern day and Ancient Macedonia. More accurate systematization of the project will be placing it in the nineteen century as it explores different historical artifacts and treats the city as ”a world in miniature” (Koteska 2011); creating framed images that finally will turn Skopje into a work of art. That is why apart from the buildings the reconstruction’s second focus is monuments and sculptures. The central area of 0.5km2 by now has been filed in with one hundred thirty three sculptures from all sizes (Utrinski Vesnik, 27.07.2012). The number of sculpture that will be produced in total will go much higher as some of the buildings are planned to be decorated with more sculptures. For example one building is planed with decoration of sixty figures (Utrinski Vesnik, 27.07.2012). The biggest monument standing on square Macedonia is the Warrior on Horse, 14,5m sculpture of Alexander the Great on horse placed on 10m column. Another monument supporting the argument that this reconstruction is nineteen century approach of monumentalisation is the Triumphal Arch that was placed at one of the entrances of square Macedonia; with motifs that are glorifying the Macedonian history. Today in 2012, two years after the official announcement of the project no one actually has a tract for how much it cost or will cost. It is estimated that can reach up to 500 million euros and that till now the government has spent around 300 million euros (Radio Slobodna Evropa, 31.03.2012). For a small country with underdeveloped economy and high rate of unemployment this is a huge financial burden. Despite unapproved for economic reasons, the majority of the citizens find the project beautiful (Sitel, 26.06.2012). The final outcome of this reconstruction can’t be determined, as this

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[114],[115] modern building “Pelister” – before and after renovation with new eclectic façade designed by Nikola Stakinov and Lazar Dimov

[116],[117] MEPSO headquarters building left – today right – planned redesign of the facade [118],[119] left -Square Macedonia during Kingdom of Yugoslavia (statues of King Petar I and King Aleksandar I) right - Square Macedonia today (statues of Dame Gruev and Goce Delcev )

[120] Skopje’s center before the start of the project Skopje 2014

[121] Skopje’s center planed vision for the year 2014

[122] Left bank of river Vardar almost complied “wall of eclectic building”

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research is conducted while the project is in the process of implementation. The reaction of the public is different from extremely positive to extremely negative. But what the object of research is: to interpret how this project correlates with the collective memory and the history of city trauma and to place it in the architectural and urban history of Skopje.

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[123] Monuments from the project Skopje 2014

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[124] Monuments and buildings from the project Skopje 2014

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Modern

Post-Modern

Contemporary

Historical layer

Skopje 2014

[125] Monuments and buildings from the project Skopje 2014

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4.6 Discussion In this part will be discussed three aspects of the analysis: first conclusions of the analysis between Skopje, Berlin and Beirut; second will be presented aspects of the historical interpretation true the discourse of trauma; and last will be discussed the role of the project Skopje 2014 in the trauma discourse. If “shaping of space is an instrument of shaping memory” (Hebbert 2002, p529) and using the Foucault’s saying: “By controlling the memories, people’s dynamics (actions) are controlled” then it is clear - the project Skopje 2014 has a deep political agenda for controlling and reshaping the Macedonian society. But using Nora’s theory on sites of memory, where he explicitly states that in order to create sites of memory there must be the will to remember, otherwise places become historical sites that do not have live relations with the inhabitants (Nora 1989). According to this, Skopje 2014 is a remodeling memory welcomed by the inhabitants of the city. The project Skopje 2014 falsifies the historical of the urbanity. But as a reconstruction project it still has a full legitimacy among many of the inhabitants otherwise it would have not succeeded. It would have produced much stronger opposition in the general public to stop the project. Although it is huge investment that drains the economically undeveloped country, public surveys still show positive reactions to the newly finished buildings and monuments (Sitel, 26.06.2012). Why is this project legitimate? Same as in the case of Berlin and Beirut – it is the idolized image offered to the public and that is what makes it so popular; announced by three previous projects1 that touched the most sensitive parts of the collective memory, this project opened the gates of memory remodeling. The inhabitants do not question its originality, as it was seen in the cases of Berlin and Beirut; they only question the symbolism of the new images. Based on previous case studies analysis and comparison, three points of conclusion were identified as part of the pattern of reconstruction of cities with a longer history of trauma: first is that reconstruction offers retrieval of the idolized lost past and its artifacts, second is the goal of erasing the unpleasant past and third point of conclusion is the concept of ideal image that the reconstruction “promises” to reestablish. In Berlin’s case, the city exploits the memories of the early 20 century Berlin before the Nazi era, when Berlin is at its peak, but it’s dismissive towards the GDR past as an unpleasant past. The reconstruction of Berlin 1 The reconstruction of the Old Theater, Mother Teresa Memorial House and the church on square Macedonia

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exploits the image of European metropolis of culture and avant-garde. In Beirut’s case the city finds its escape in Levantine architecture and the Phoenician past, in the idolized image of “Paris of the Middle East” and Beirut as “the Ancient City of the Future”, trying to erase all the memories from the civil war. In the case of Skopje there is the escape in the pre-1940’s eclecticism. By using this layer as a basis the whole esthetic of the project Skopje 2014 was developed; because the Ottoman and Modernist legacy were not suitable for the country’s nationalist agenda. And although the memories of only three buildings2 were used as initiation/inspiration, the whole project succeed because the reconstruction offers Skopje an image of monumentality of the nineteen century European capital that Skopje lacks in order to “become European”. This project of reconstruction completely erases the modern past that not only reminds the Skopjans on the previous political system but also “erases” the earthquake and the memories of that trauma. In the past hundred years the Skopje underwent tremendous changes. After five hundred years of Ottoman influence the city in course of 20 years transformed its oriental character into European. Skopje urban environment past many phases defined through the social changes of the turbulent 20th century, such as:: Eclecticism and Academism (1912-1940), Modernism and Functionalism(1930-1965), Late Modern and Structuralism(19651985), Post-Modernism(1985-2000), Transition(1990-) and again a new phase of Eclecticism(2006-). The traditional approach of reading Skopje’s urban history is through the phases of its urban plans (Pencic, Bakalcev, Grcheva). The value of this research is the proposed new reading and interpretation of the city`s urban and architectural development in the period from 1912 to 2012, analyzed through the theoretical concept of trauma, the main criteria of defining the phases and turning points in Skopje`s urban and architectural development. With this systematization the natural causes as well as the socio-political context is included as a part of the Skopje`s urban history an which had deeper impact on the architectural and urban development of the city than the urban planners and plans itself. This method aims to deepen the understanding of the socio – political dynamic its influence on the city’s urban landscape. Grcheva (2011) offers elaborate analysis of the socio-political connections of bout the plan from 1965 and the projects Skopje 2012. Pencic (2011) interprets the plans with the sociopolitical context in which they were generated. This research offers systematization of the urban history of Skopje by socio-political, economic, natural disasters and other changes as more influential than the actual planning practice. 2 The Old Theater, The Officers Home and the National Bank

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By introducing three new traumas beside the earthquake from 1963, this analysis tries to give better understanding of the Skopje 2014 project reveling new perspective of Skopje as a wounded city. All the sculptures of historical figures and the museums are the evidence that Skopje 2014 is not only rebuilding the city physically but as well rebuilds its memories. All of them should show the world and to the Skopjans as well, that Macedonia, and Skopje as its capital, has a history. This new-old buildings should be the remedy for the traumatized and “lost” past Skopje 2014 does not deal with the future because the future is not “detected” as a problem. This project lies in the past, reinventing the figures of memory in order provide a firm identity image; the figures that the city was missing in the 90’s and led to the crises of the city identity. While other East European countries managed to construct and reinvent their national capitals in the 90’s and early 2000’s Skopje didn`t; there was lack of artifacts for that purpose. This project works exactly on this line of reshaping and rethinking the built environment of the previous system and it’s “Europeanization” that (Delanty and Jones (2002)) establishes as a process in all of the Eastern European capitals; its main goal is to construct a Grand National capital. Old Modern buildings get new façades in eclectic style as if the reconstruction retrieves the memories of the places that once were lost in the earthquake and erased in the post-earthquake reconstruction; instead it is only destroyed the entire Modern legacy in the city. This project does the exactly same thing what Plan 9 did to the pre-earthquake Skopje. Biro 77’s Cultural center is literally walled by eclectic buildings that will suffocate and destroy its expressionistic beauty. But the objective of Skopje 2014 is to create new coherent image of a historic- like center. Ideally it’s imagined as a city center that represents a “Work of Art” (Boyer 1996). This reconstruction offers a change that can measure up to the imago of the Skopje’s hyperbolized past. And it’s not the esthetic that makes it so successful but the idealized images of the video presentation. These images inspire hope that Skopje’s center can finally have coherent finished story; something that the city had before the catastrophic earthquake. But in all this enthusiasm the producer of the project, the Government of Republic of Macedonia, fails or maybe refuses to notice that this project in the same time erases important part of the city’s memory and history, similar to the projects of its kind: Berlin and Beirut. Since 2009 the nostalgia for the Old Skopje (the pre-earthquake city) is slowly fading. This days a new one emerges; young people members of “Ploshtad Sloboda” and “Raspeani Skopjani”3 fight for Modern Skopje and preserving the 3 Ploshtad Sloboda is NGO that is a strong opposition and criticizer of the project Skopje 2014. Raspeani Skopjani is an activist choir consisting of amateur singers whose aim is to point out the problems and flaws that their city and country is dealing with. Citizens]raise their voices against all sorts of societal injustice by performing popular songs that, in their opinion, fit the issue.

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legacy of that era; buildings and places that have live dynamic relation with the inhabitants. For them Skopje 2014 is destructive force in the city. By destroying live memories of Skopje’s inhabitants the project becomes trauma by itself. Although Skopje 2014 explores the idea of city as “work of art” the already established structure of Skopje cannot be altered. On urban level, as it was already mentioned, the buildings only inﬁll the voids of the city. And even if the project is fully realized, the previous structure of the center can’t be fully assimilated. The dichotomy between the old morphology and the new one will transform the latest buildings into another layer of fragments and city imaginary, turning Skopje into a bigger spectacle (Boyer 1996) then it already was before the reconstruction started. With this it will become another traumatic event in the city’s urban, architectural and social history.

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[123] Warrior on a Horse (unofficially Alexander the Great) author Valetina Stefanovska (2011)

[124] Triumphal Arch Macedonia author Valetina Stefanovska (2011)

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5. Conclusion

Starting from the assumption that Skopje 2014 project can’t be treated only as a product of one establishment agenda and politics of identity, this thesis examines the relation of the project with the general public opinion influenced by the collective memory image of the city. This thesis aimed to give broader perspective for this project including recent and earlier events of the urban history in Skopje by giving them new interpretation true the discourse of trauma in cities and confirming the wounded state of Skopje; and finally the qualification of the project Skopje 2014 as a reconstruction project that deals with memory politics. Initially the theoretical framework used in the historical interpretation of the architectural and urban development of Skopje was exposed, defining the collective memory as socially shared notion about the past and a way that the past is conceptualized from the point of the present and actual, by using Halbwachs’, Assmann’s, Nora’s and Boyer’s positions on the collective memory and the city. Furthermore, theoretical outline for “trauma in city” and the concept of wounded city by Karen E. Till was elaborated; the research also examined the case studies of Berlin’s and Beirut’s reconstructions as points of comparison for further examination of Skopje’s reconstruction (Skopje 2014 project). On the case studies of Berlin and Beirut, the proposed methodology of interpretation through the theoretical concepts of collective memory, trauma in city and wounded city was tested in order to prove its general applicability potentials on different cases. This research offered sufficient amount of data that supported the pre-supposed memory politics and use of collective memory in the cities reconstruction practice. The findings show that bought of the reconstructions have selective approach towards the past, by favoring the idolized part of the past, exploiting collective memory in order to erase the unpleasant part. In Beirut case were presented examples of buildings that use esthetic that imitates historic styles in order to produce coherence and stronger identity image. And in Berlin`s case..... The main body of this research was focused on the case study of Skopje and chronological analysis and interpretation of its urban and architectural history for the period from 1912 until 2012.

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The urban and architectural history of Skopje until 1963 shows that the city was influenced by different architectural and urban discourses; they were applied over the existing urban tissue and slowly transformed the city image but did not produced shocking changes that might have had damaging effects on the public’s perception and later memories. After the catastrophic earthquake from 1963, the city took a new course of development that did not correspond with the pre-earthquake matrix in terms of morphology and scale. Additionally the important pre – earthquake architectural symbols were not preserved and restored. The post – earthquake urban plans failed to complete the renovation of the center and in the beginning of the 90’s the unfinished fragmented state and the absence of important figures of memory in the city produced a new trauma, in this research named as “crisis of identity”. This trauma is expressed through the inability of the city to transform its image for the needs of the new social and political system (independence of the country and the period of transition). The armed ethnic conflict from 2001 as another traumatic even in the city`s history demonstrates the reason for ethnically divided city landscape. In summary, the historical urban development of Skopje to this point (2006) demonstrated: need for a reconstruction and change that will introduce a new dynamism in Skopje. As the research main focus is the Skopje reconstruction through the project Skopje 2014, three of the initial projects that announced Skopje`s reconstruction and that also function as the project pre-text, the reconstruction of the Old Theater, Mother Teresa Memorial House and the church on square Macedonia were analyzed. The conclusion is that these projects are embedded with the previous three acts of trauma in Skopje: the earthquake from 1963, the country independence (crisis of identity) and the ethnic armed conflict from 2001. Their purpose is not only to reconstruct the city but as well to cure the wounded city from the past traumas. Starting with these three projects and analyzing the whole project as a reconstruction aiming to rehabilitate a wounded city - parallels and similarities between Skopje, Berlin and Beirut, show a certain recognizable pattern in the process; memory politics that explores and hyperbolizes the idolized nostalgic images in hopes that it can erase the traces of the unpleasant past. This type of approach is intentionally used in the process of reconstruction in order the project to gain certain legitimacy and assurance for successful installment. By this, it can be concluded that Skopje`s reconstruction is not only a single isolated act of political will for changing the city`s or nation identity, but it is a reconstruction the corresponds to a wounded state of a city. This reconstruction uses tools of memory in order to offer a cure for the traumas of the past. The problem is that by doing so it destroys other

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layers of the city that today have a vivid relation with the inhabitants and by that this project becomes a trauma of its own. Another point is that the project will not succeed to bring the city center to a level of a coherent image; the method of scenery used in this reconstruction will not change the existing heterogynous morphology of the city center. By using scenery and inlay strategy this project will only add another layer of fragments that will strengthen the traumatic effect. The question that this research implicates is: if Skopje has a wounded state and history of trauma reoccurring, what should be the proper urban and architectural strategy that might heal the city? How to react posttraumatically after Skopje 2014? If take in consideration that the past 100 years the area of Small Ring has been only the center of the city, and Tange’s proposal offered a defocusing by building a new Republic Square as a modern center of the city, then maybe one of the solutions can be searched on this line. The area of the Republic Square it’s still not changed since 1963 and can offer place for new development that can open new future and regeneration of the city. This research leaves opportunity for further improvement of the tools for interpreting and fallowing Skopje’s urban development. This is a new reading of the city’s history that hopefully will contribute to the literature for the urban and architectural progress of Skopje.

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[128] Warrior on a Horse see true the Triumphal Arch

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LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 1, sours: http://dedale10.ocular-witness.com/ Fig. 2, sours: Ibid. Fig. 3, sours: Ibid. Fig. 4, sours: Ibid. Fig. 5, sours: http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de Fig. 6, sours: en.wikipedia.org Fig. 7, sours: http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/34362261@N06/5288498733/ Fig. 8, sours: designboom.com Fig. 9, sours: www.solidere.com Fig. 10, sours: Ibid. Fig. 11, sours: Ibid. Fig. 12, sours: en.wikipedia.org Fig. 13, sours: http://www.culturedivine.com/beirutsouks.html Fig. 14 sours: personal archive of Divna Pencik Fig. 15 sours: Ibid. Fig. 16 sours: Ibid. Fig. 17 sours: www.build.mk Fig. 18 sours: Ibid. Fig. 20 sours: Ibid. Fig. 21 sours: Ibid. Fig. 22 sours: Ibid. Fig. 24 sours: Ibid. Fig. 25 sours: Ibid. Fig. 26 sours: Ibid. Fig. 27 sours: Ibid. Fig. 28 sours: Ibid. Fig. 29 sours: Ibid. Fig. 30 sours: Ibid. Fig. 31 sours: Ibid. Fig. 32 sours: Ibid. Fig. 33 sours: personal archive of Divna Pencik Fig. 34 sours: Ibid. Fig. 35 sours: www.build.mk Fig. 36 sours: Ibid. Fig. 37 sours: Ibid. Fig. 38 sours: Ibid. Fig. 39 sours: Ibid. Fig. 40 sours: Ibid. Fig. 41 sours: Ibid. Fig. 42 sours: Ibid. Fig. 43 sours: Ibid. Fig. 44 sours: Ibid. Fig. 45 sours: Ibid. Fig. 46 sours: Ibid. Fig. 47 sours: Ibid. Fig. 48 sours: Source: UNITED NATIONS, “Skopje resurgent: The story of a United Nations Special Fund Town Planning Project”, United Nations, New York, 1970, p.304 Fig. 49 sours: Personal drawing Fig. 50 sours: www.bild.mk Fig. 51 sours: Ibid. Fig. 52 sours: Ibid. Fig. 53 sours: Ibid. Fig. 54 sours: First Archi Brigade Fig. 55 sours: Ibid. Fig. 56 sours: Personal Photo Fig. 57 sours: www.build.mk Fig. 58 sours: Ibid. Fig. 59 sours: First Archi Brigade Fig. 60 sours: www.build.mk Fig. 61 sours: Ibid. Fig. 62 sours: First Archi Brigade Fig. 63 sours: Ibid. Fig. 64 sours: Ibid.

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Fig. 65 sours: www.build.mk Fig. 66 sours: Ibid. Fig. 67 sours: Personal drawing Fig. 68 sours: Ibid. Fig. 69 sours: Ibid. Fig. 70 sours: Ibid. Fig. 71 sours: Ibid. Fig. 72 sours: original by Minas Bakalcev (personally processed) Fig. 73 sours: Personal drawing Fig. 74 sours: scan from magazine Arshin Fig. 75 sours: www.build.mk Fig. 76 sours: Ibid. Fig. 77 sours: Stefan Bouzarovski Fig. 78 sours: Personal drawing Fig. 79 sours: Ibid. Fig. 80 sours: Ibid. Fig. 81 sours: Ibid. Fig. 82 sours: en.wikipedia.org Fig. 83 sours: Ibid. Fig. 84 sours: build.mk Fig. 85 sours: Ibid. Fig. 86 sours: Ibid. Fig. 87 sours: http://volanskopje.blogspot.com/ Fig. 88 sours: build.mk Fig. 89 sours: http://mamacita101.blog81.fc2.com/ Fig. 90 sours: Ibid. Fig. 91 sours: wikitravel.org Fig. 92 sours: Ibid. Fig. 93 sours: First Archi Brigade Fig. 94 sours: Ibid. Fig. 95 sours: Ibid. Fig. 96 sours: Ibid. Fig. 97 sours: Ibid. Fig. 98 sours: Ibid. Fig. 99 sours: Ibid. Fig. 100 sours: Ibid. Fig. 101 sours: Ibid. Fig. 102 sours: www.build.mk Fig. 103 sours: Ibid. Fig. 104 sours: Ibid. Fig. 105 sours: Ibid. Fig. 106 sours: Ibid. Fig. 107 sours: Ibid. Fig. 108 sours: Ibid. Fig. 109 sours: Ibid. Fig. 110 sours: Ibid. Fig. 111 sours: Ibid. Fig. 112 sours: Ibid. Fig. 113 sours: Ibid. Fig. 114 sours: Ibid. Fig. 115 sours: Ibid. Fig. 116 sours: Ibid. Fig. 117 sours: Ibid. Fig. 118 sours: Ibid. Fig. 119 sours: Ibid. Fig. 120 sours: First Archi Brigade Fig. 121 sours: Ibid. Fig. 122 sours: www.build.mk Fig. 123 sours: Personal drawing with photos from Wikipedia and Buil.mk Fig. 124 sours: Personal drawing Fig. 125 sours: Ibid. Fig. 126 sours: www.build.mk Fig. 127 sours: Ibid. Fig. 128 sours: www.build.mk

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