Polyparty-ism - Search for Common Ground

there, Konstantin Dimitrovski, while
talking about things which need to be
done, emphasized the architectural
aspect. According to the urban plan,
plans need to be drafted for each cell,
since in this way, levels of buildings,
facades, details in the shop windows,
materials etc. will be defined. To
Dimitrovski's opinion, the slow progress
of all these works is due to the reluctance
of the shop owners to invest in
such plans. Some of them give up and
they start constructing unapproved
extensions, for which we regularly intervene
through inspection authorities. He
anticipates that with the enactment of
the law for the protection of cultural
monuments, a certain order for intervening
will be established in the bazaar.
"Very little is required to regain the
authentic image" says Dimitrovski,
deeply convinced.
Aneta Tanevska, an architect-conservator,
is responsible for the cultural
monuments dating back to the
Ottoman period, which are located in
the bazaar.
- Certain interventions are underway,
which should result in making them
more attractive for tourists and other
interested parties. At present, in the
Chifte Hamam (the double public bath),
there is a reconstruction under way and
re-adaptation of the area into an artistic
gallery (this should be completed before
the summer). Some minor reconstructions
of the gates and the internal part of
the cover are completed and additional
work is ongoing in the Kapan An. In the
Mustafa Pasha mosque, the cemetery
was reconstructed and the court of the
mosque was rearranged, whereas in
Kurshumli An it is necessary to erect
protection grille for the gates. In fact,
some interventions were already made to
the sanitary and the lighting. In the interior,
a lapidarium was opened and it is
accessible for tourists. Kurshumli An
needs investment for its maintenance,
and the money for this will be requested
from the Ministry for Culture - said
Tanevska.
What can be said at the end? The
future of the Old Bazaar of Skopje is
still connected with its past. In other
words, the more it returns to its sources,
from the architectural point of view and
by its purpose, the more attractive it
will become for everybody and it will
represent valuable cultural, historic,
commercial and tourist wealth.
(The author is
a journalist in "Flaka)
Tanushevci is
awaiting its "soul"
Now, when almost all the displaced people have returned back in their
homes, the Tanushevci residents are still wondering around Skopje and
Vitina streets. In the evening, they go back to the basements, since there is
no other place for them to go
Ismail Sinani
Sitting at the corner of the room,
with a pipe in his hand, constantly
smoking, we met Shefki in over seventies,
who was just waiting for a
"mercy" to return to his homeland,
the village of Tanushevci.
"My son, the stone weighs only in
its own place", addresses us this old
man with a noble heart, by letting us
know that he was sick of everything.
He stops again. In a large room in
the Vizbegovo settlement in Skopje,
where he
has been accommodated for over
a year now, Shefki looks with a heavy
look and utters words one by one. "I
cannot understand what is in fact
happening with us". These are the
words by which the old man expresses
his astonishment, about the impossibility
of returning to Tanushevci,
where, as everywhere else, the spring
has already started.
While Shefki was shaking his
head from the pain because of not
being able to do anything and while
he was groaning, from the other corner
of the room, surrounded by magazines,
his older son, who is a headmaster
of the village school, joins the
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What is happening to us?, May 2002