New York Times: Skopje, the Capital of Kitsch
The US newspaper has devoted a detailed article to the new Skopje image, or more precisely the completion of the project “Skopje 2014”, titled “Dancing nymphs and pirate ships”. The new look of the capital of Macedonia, according to New York Times, made Skopje the capital of Kitsch.
New York Times for its readers poses three options about the logic of the Skopje 2014 project and the question is: “Which of the following makes sense?”
a) Three pirate ships on a river in a landlocked country in the Balkans;
b) A 47-foot-high bronze statue of an ancient warrior that is Alexander the Great and is also not Alexander the Great; or
c) A house dedicated to Mother Teresa, a saint known for her modesty, done up in an opulent style that can best be described as Miami meets the Flintstones.
“Answer: None, unless you are in Skopje, Macedonia. They all have a home there as part of a long-running face-lift for the city, which has turned it into what could be one of the kitschiest capitals on the planet.”
“The project cost hundreds of millions more than public projections and has been roundly derided by urban planners and architects, who say it was rushed into reality at the cost of structural integrity and functionality”, the US newspaper wrote. According to NY Times, it was the central issue in the protests in 2015 that led to the defeat of the ruling party.
You can read the full article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/28/world/europe/macedonia-skopje.html