Skopje

Skopje is the capital city of North Macedonia. It is the biggest city there.

The Vardar River flows through the city. Mountains rise to the north and to the south.

Skopje is the capital of North Macedonia, in the Balkans of southeastern Europe. The city grew up beside the Vardar River, in a valley basin with mountains to the north and south.

The City of Skopje is made up of ten city municipalities. The 2021 census counted 526,502 people there, and the State Statistical Office estimated 526,376 at the end of 2024. The built-up city itself had 422,540 people in the 2021 census.

Skopje lies in one of the basins of the Vardar valley. Together with the Morava valley, this valley forms the main route between the countries of the Danube and the Aegean Sea, and the Skopje region sits at an important crossroads of routes. Mountains close the basin: Skopska Crna Gora to the north (about 1,600 m) and Jakupica to the south (2,540 m).

The City of Skopje, a unit of ten city municipalities, counted 526,502 residents in the census of 5 September 2021, up from 506,926 in 2002; the State Statistical Office's estimate for 31 December 2024 is 526,376. The urban settlement of Skopje alone counted 422,540. Over its history the city has had several names, among them Scupi under the Romans, Üsküb in Turkish and Shkup in Albanian.

An old stone bridge crosses the river. It has many round arches.

On one side is a big square. On the other side is an old market called the bazaar.

The Stone Bridge is a symbol of Skopje. It links Macedonia Square with the Old Bazaar, and it is drawn on the city's coat of arms. It was built of blocks of a stone called travertine, joined with iron clamps. When it was new it had 13 arches and was about 214 meters long.

Across the bridge, the Old Bazaar spreads from the river toward the Kale fortress and the Serava River. Most of its buildings are in the Ottoman style, and some old inns and baths are now used for art and cultural events.

Researchers at Goce Delčev University describe two views on the Stone Bridge's age. Archaeological digs support building in the 6th century, after the earthquake of 518, when the Emperor Justinian I ordered works across his empire; historical sources point to the reign of Sultan Mehmed II, between 1451 and 1469. In its original form it had 13 arches and measured 213.85 m by 6.33 m, built of travertine blocks fixed with iron clamps set in lead. It is the main element of the city's coat of arms.

The Old Bazaar covers the area from the bridge to Bit-pazar and from the Kale fortress to the Serava River. Its site dates back to the 12th century. Ottoman architecture dominates, with traces of Byzantine building; it was damaged by the earthquakes of 1555 and 1963 and a fire in 1689 and rebuilt several times. Former inns and baths now host cultural events.

Several big roads meet in Skopje. Trains run through the city too.

People can also fly to Skopje's airport.

Skopje sits at a crossroads. Routes run through its valley from Belgrade in Serbia to Thessaloniki in Greece, and from the Adriatic Sea toward Thessaloniki too. The railway between Belgrade and Thessaloniki was built through the city in 1888, and travelers can also fly to Skopje International Airport.

After the earthquake of 1963, an international effort helped plan a new center. A team led by the Japanese architect Kenzo Tange won the competition in 1965. Its 'City Gate' was a long main axis for transport and business, with a giant gateway building for traffic arriving from the highways.

The Vardar–Morava corridor is the main route between the Danube lands and the Aegean, and the Skopje region sits where several routes meet: Belgrade to Thessaloniki, the Adriatic to Thessaloniki, one from Kriva Palanka and Kumanovo, and one from Struga, Ohrid and Debar. The Belgrade–Thessaloniki railway, built in 1888, revived the city's growth.

After the 1963 earthquake, the UN Special Fund led an international effort, and a Town Planning Project held a competition for the city center, won by Kenzo Tange's team (1965). Harvard's Urban Design Case Study Archive explains its two ideas: the 'City Gate', a linear axis for transport and business with a gigantic gateway structure for traffic from the regional highways, ending at Republic Square on the Vardar, and the 'City Wall', a raised megastructure of government offices, shops and cultural buildings along a walkway, which was never fully built.

In the old bazaar, people buy and sell things. There has been a bazaar here for a very long time.

Near the city is a canyon called Matka. It has a lake and caves.

With its markets, fairs and old crafts, the Old Bazaar has drawn traders from across the Balkans and beyond, in the past and today. Around it stand the Museum of Macedonia and the Museum of Contemporary Art, built in the second half of the 1900s.

About 17 kilometers southwest of the city, the Treska River runs through Matka Canyon. A dam built in 1938 made Lake Matka there. The canyon has about 1,000 kinds of plants, and scientists have found new kinds of spiders and butterflies in it.

Koteski and Majhoshev describe the Old Bazaar as a place whose markets, fairs and crafts attracted traders from across the Balkans, with the buildings of the Museum of Macedonia and the Museum of Contemporary Art (founded in 1964) added near it in the second half of the 20th century.

Matka Canyon, on the Treska, a right-bank tributary of the Vardar, covers about 5,000 hectares some 17 km southwest of Skopje. Its reservoir, made in 1938 by the St. Andreja dam, is the oldest artificial lake in the country. The canyon has ten caves and the underwater cave Vrelo, more than 203 m deep. It was a refuge during the ice ages: about 20% of its roughly 1,000 plant species are endemic or relict, and 77 Balkan endemic species of small butterflies live there.