“Skopje is not a movie, it is not a thriller in which we sense the main event. It is a concentration of human struggle with nature, but also a result that inspires a new struggle, not acceptance of defeats”. Jean Paul Sartre, 1963.
On July 26, 1963, the capital of our country suffered an unprecedented catastrophe. Skopje was hit by a catastrophic earthquake that killed more than 1,000 people and destroyed more than 65% of the buildings in the capital.
The earthquake was a turning point in the city’s development. Very soon the reconstruction of the city began, in which a large number of buildings and monuments were built in modern architecture. At the announced bid for the reconstruction of Skopje (1965), the renown Japanese architect Kenzo Tange won the first prize, while the second prize was won by R. Mishevic and F. Venkler. Their teams along with many other architects, worked on Skopje’s final design. In Tange’s plans, two main structures, the City Gate (which was supposed to cover all communications, business operations and transport) and the City Wall (as a residential part of the city), were defined. His plans included the City Wall and the Transport Center.