Sheltering memory in Skopje

Plaques, memorials, historic sites, and museums have a peculiar relationship with time. Museums tend to collect and educate the public about the memories of the past and the importance of particular events. Can the identity of a city and its character be forgotten through time or can we recover the memory? Collective memory of a city is an important part of people’s lives so they can preserve the congruence with the architecture. Once, the harmony is changed, people tend to lose the connection with the city. The devastating 6.1-moment magnitude earthquake which occurred in Skopje, Macedonia, on July 26, 1963, left 200,000 and more people homeless. About 80 percent of the city was destroyed and left in ruins. Although relieving the atrocity of that particular morning is impossible, a memory of that is embedded in all the new architectural shapes build trough time. Enlivening a special event, represented as a set of historical markers and has a point to connect the city with its inhabitants. The aim of this thesis is to establish and secure the identity of Skopje, which was lost in 1963. To remember the “Survivors“ and the “Symbols“ of the city I assembled a memory line as one path to provide a narrative for a future landscape that connects the city as a natural museum. On this path, one of the most important landmarks of collective memory will be the new Memorial museum about the earthquake. The Museum is a connection of the preserved old railway station in Skopje, which was partially destroyed, and a new part that takes place as an extension of the building. The Museum aims an impact on the visitors to relate to inexpressible experiences. the proposed shape of the museum aims to provide a dual purpose building for the future preservation of the history and its task to shelter the people from the next big atrocity.