Skopje is the capital of Macedonia (not the ridiculous "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" that Greece insists on) and its largest city with a population over half a million people. Skopje lies north of the Vardar River and Mount Vodno, and is located on a major trade route between Belgrade and Athens.

Judging by photographs of its skyline, one could easily conclude that Skopje is a new and modern city, yet its history is quite rich and stretches all the way back to the 4th century B.C..

In Roman times, the city was known as Scupi and was developed as an early Roman legionary camp. It grew and prospered for centuries until the Sarmatians and later the Goths invaded Macedonia in the 3rd century A.D.. Scupi experienced a huge increase in building activity a century later and for a while even served as Emperor Theodosius' capital. Unfortunately, Scupi was constantly a target for sieges and eventually a great earthquake destroyed it in 518. The town was rebuilt and once again flourished under Emperor Lustinian I, but upon his death it was captured by Slavs in 625 who renamed it Skopje.

Skopje was captured by the Serbs in 1282 and was made part of their kingdom during its greatest period of expansion. Serbian king Stefan Dušan (1331-1355) was even coronated there on the Orthodox Easter of 1346. Skopje remained under Serbian rule until the arrival of the Turks in 1392, after which it became known as the "second city of Turkey" until the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

The Serbs retook Skopje in the Balkan Wars of 1912-13 and Macedonia was incorporated in the first Yugoslavia in 1918. After the German occupation during World War II, the city became the capital of the new Macedonian republic, which was federated with the second Yugoslavia in 1945.

For the second time in its long history, Skopje was levelled by a massive earthquake in 1963 that destroyed 80% of its buildings and killed more than 1000 people. The devastation was so complete that some even suggested moving the capital of the republic to another city! Eventually it was reconstructed with the participation of many international architects, leading to some interesting modern architecture (the new Macedonian National Theatre, for example) not usually seen in that part of Europe.

Some great photographs of the city can be found at the following URL:

http://faq.macedonia.org/travel/cities/skopje.html