An article in the Guardian casts the spotlight on the project to reinvent Skopje that has caused division within the city.

Skopje’s main river that runs through the capital of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) is filled with flashy neo-classical buildings. These have ornate columns and figures of nymphs in Grecian style.

These buildings were not there in 2010, but are part of a fast-paced drive with two main aims (a) to draw more tourists and (b) to showcase its supposed history that it claims has been stolen by Greece.

At great public expense, the city is making an effort to be more Greek than Greece with a 22-meter high 30-ton bronze statue of Alexander the Great encircled by warriors and a fountain with nightly light shows. Statues of Philip of Macedonia lie across the river.

Opinions are divided over the project. It has achieved the first goal of drawing in more tourists though some locals are critical.