Две ночи перед канун нового года, более тысячи македонцев собрались в снег держаться за руки и образуют кольцо вокруг большой торговый центр в городе Скопье, капитала. Это может звучать как начало некоторые странные шутки, но толпа собиралась всерьез, чтобы выразить свое любовь в здании в стиле модерн, известный как GTC, и в знак протеста против плана правительства дать ему новый, фасад в стиле барокко.

The plan, known as Скопье 2014, sounds at first like a coup for a city: the construction of some 20 new buildings in the capital, including museums, concert halls, and theaters, as well as the erection of over 40 statues. Except in a city whose architecture is mostly modernist, all of the Skopje 2014 building is being done in a strictly neoclassical style, from a brand new triumphal arch to a towering sculpture of a man on a horse — presumably, but not explicitly, Александр Великий — atop a column adorned with lions, music, lights, and a fountain. It’s no wonder the project “has been criticized for constructing nationalistic historicist kitsch.”

“This is a crime against public space, культура, urbanism, and art — against the city and the citizen,” Miroslav Grčev, a professor of urban design and the creator of the Macedonian flag, told the BBC.

Скопье 2014 has also run up significant costs, with the government admitting last April that it had already spent €200 million (~$240.5 million); the budget was originally estimated at €80 million.

And so, Macedonians gathered on December 29 to “hug” their modernist shopping mall, and to try and protect it from going baroque.

по Jillian Steinhauer на Январь 2, 2015