Skopje. City, Architecture and Art of Solidarity

On July 26, 1963, the capital of Macedonia found itself at the epicenter of the largest and most devastating earthquake in the modern history of the country, after which nearly 80 percent of the city lay in ruins and had to reinvent itself from scratch. Its reconstruction became a forgotten example of great international solidarity—among politicians, architects, urban planners, artists, and people of goodwill.

This album explores the story of the city’s reconstruction. The urban plan for the city center was prepared by the famous studio of Kenzō Tange—the Japanese architect known for projects such as the Hiroshima Peace Center. Polish architects and urban planners also played a crucial role, including Adolf Ciborowski, who oversaw the rebuilding process on behalf of the United Nations, and Stanisław Jankowski, the head of the Polish team that developed the master plan for the new Macedonian capital.

A separate chapter of the book tells the story of Skopje’s Museum of Contemporary Art—a gift from the then Polish government. The museum, located on a hill above the Vardar River, was designed by Polish architects from the “Tigers” design team: Wacław Kłyszewski, Jerzy Mokrzyński, and Eugeniusz Wierzbicki.