about

I will not write about the history of Skopje, nor about its political changes.   There is so much information on the internet about it.       Still, it’s incredible how this place was under Roman occupation, then a Byzantine commercial point, also it was the capital of the Bulgarian Imperium and then became Macedonia’s capital.   The place suffered fights, fire, earthquake, poverty.   All together they made the new Skopje – a re- born territory called ‘the capital of monuments’.   After the earthquake in 1963, more than 80% of the architecture of the city was destroyed. Since then, the Government has been building continuously.   There are many buildings under construction still and day by day many more edifices are coming to life.   There is a word circulation in Macedonia that says that every citizen in Skopje has a monument.   Each person saves money for one. But if you are a citizen of Skopje and you die before building your monument, don

Thanks to Youth in Action programme again, I came across an old, historical, Macedonian city called Bitola. Situated in the S-W part of Macedonia, Bitola settles at the foot of Baba Mountain and it is crossed by the Dragon River.   The place represents an important junction between the Adriatic Sea, the Aegean Sea and Central Europe. You would never guess, but this city has an impressive history.     It was founded as Heraclea Lyncestis (City of Hercules upon the Land of the Lynx) in the middle of the 4th century BC by Philip II of Macedon and it was an important settlement from the Hellenistic period until the early Middle Ages. Then, the Romans conquered this part of Macedon in 148 BC and destroyed the political power of the city. Still, the city remained prosperous because of the Via Egnatia Roman road which passed by the city. In the early Byzantine period (4th to 6th centuries AD) Heraclea was an important episcopal centre and bishops like Bishop Eva