Statues and beliefs
I admit that I was pleasantly surprised when I walked into the main square for the first time in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia. The size of the statue of Alexander the Great (or the Macedonian Alexander, as some call it) was far bigger than what I had imagined. And the sizes and details of other neighboring statues were equally impressive. It was the type of thing that one could only properly feel in the place, not via looking at photos.
Of course, I do not intend to argue that big and well-made statues are important. But I believe that our physical surroundings determine how one feels what the world is like as he/she goes about the day. So I see the excitement of having to go past on a regular basis the life-sized Macedonian soldiers and giant lions, the mother of Alexander, and the inventors of Cyrillic scripts. In a way, the city felt like an open-air museum and I enjoyed the feeling of the space.
But I am not invisible to the many controversies. The construction of the numerous statues was part of the famous “Skopje 2014” project, which had the official purpose of giving the capital city a more “classical appeal”. The project cost the country somewhere between 80 and 500 million euros (it is surprising that there is no clear estimate), and the selection of several statues was deemed politically controversial (as in the case of Alexander) or inaccurate, and I hear that quite a few citizens find the results aesthetically worse than the past.
In general, I think that statues are the physical embodiment of what many people want to believe in about their identities and values. In fact, Modern Macedonians would have very little in common with the people of the Kingdom of Macedonia. Rather, they would relate much strongly to people on the opposite side of the Earth who are interested in the same type of videos on youtube, and people who are following the same tags on Instagram. And equally unclear is why people seem to want to “inherit” the values invoked by the name of the Kingdom of Macedonia. How does that fact that the Kingdom once conquered a vast amount of territory seem to suggest that it offers admirable values for modern humanity, so much so that you would argue that you’re the “true successor” of the kingdom?
In spite of all the doubts above, I still recognize that humans are essentially animals of beliefs. And as much as beliefs often lead us to inconsistent and regrettable decisions, I acknowledge that we need beliefs and good stories about our identities. They give us the reasons to go by our days, and the power to persevere during the challenging times in life. In that regard, I assume that “Skopje 2014” has achieved in presenting some versions of shared stories to its people, which is crucial for a well-functioning and resilient society. Finally, I note that I was motivated to write about my thoughts on this, after having heard only the criticism about this from several locals and travelers.
@ Skopje, North Macedonia, September 10, 2021
