Even if Skopje is a rather old city, with traces dating back to ancient times, you can’t find many remnants of the great past there. Instead, the majority of buildings date back to the 1960s and afterward. This is because on July 26, 1963, Skopje was hit by a massive earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 that resulted of over a thousand casualties, and 80% of the city was destroyed.
During the reconstruction process, some of the finest architects of that time (under the supervision of the Japanese master Kenzō Tange) were hired to give Skopje a new, modern look. This is why Skopje is so full of incredible brutalist architecture – the city had to be reinvented after the devastating tragedy and since brutalism was popular at that time the place got a fine concrete look that today is a joy to all the fans of this funky architecture style
As you can see there are quite many amazing brutalist structures in the city, it’s like a concrete playground!