When Skopje 2014 was conceived, the ruling party wanted it both ways: to claim their history, but not so blatantly as to derail negotiations with Greece over the name issue.
So a statue of a warrior on a horse set high upon a pedestal in a fountain flanked by lions in the city’s central plaza is called “warrior on a horse.” Yet everyone understands it to be a depiction of Alexander the Great, ruler of the ancient Macedonian kingdom.
Across the Vardar River, which bisects the city, is a statue of a man, fist raised into the air and looking at the Alexander statue and the Vodno Mountain in the distance. He is not identified as Alexander’s father, Philip II, although everyone knows that is who it is.
Visitors to the city will first notice the statues. There is no official count, but estimates put the number around 1,000. They adorn parks, roads, squares, bridges and the rooftops of buildings, and were even plunked into the river itself, where the three pirate ships house restaurants, although not ones wildly popular with locals.
Source : Nytimes
