These are the stories you can open in the 3D view, each at its own numbered point on the model.
1The symbol of Skopje
The Stone Bridge links Macedonia Square on the south bank of the Vardar with the Old Bazaar on the north bank, and it is the main element of the city's coat of arms. It is about 214 metres long and a little over 6 metres wide. Sources count twelve or thirteen semicircular arches; only the ones over the water and the riverside promenades stand open today, the rest lie under the embankments.
When was it built? Archaeology points to the 6th century, after the earthquake of 518 that destroyed Roman Scupi, in the time of Emperor Justinian I. Written sources name the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II, between 1451 and 1469. Some sources join the two: an Ottoman bridge on older foundations. The evidence does not settle it, so both dates are given here.
The bridge is built of blocks of travertine, a light limestone, joined with iron clamps set in lead; inside, the piers are filled with rubble and mortar. Heavy rectangular piers stand in the river on projecting bases, and each arch is a half circle of dressed blocks. On the deck, big pale slabs have been polished by centuries of feet.
Skopje lies in an earthquake zone, and the bridge has been mended many times. The earthquake of 1555 damaged four of its piers, which were repaired; an inscription records a renewal in 1579, and more work followed in 1817 and 1818. The river here is usually shallow and slow in summer, running between concrete embankments with promenades close to the water.
1689 was a hard year for Skopje. During the war between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans the city was burnt, and the fire is linked to damage at the bazaar, the baths and the inns. In the same year, according to the English Wikipedia, Karpoš, the leader of an uprising against Ottoman rule, was executed on this bridge.
In November 1944, as they retreated from Skopje, German troops mined the bridge, but they did not blow it up. Half a century later, in 1994, the bridge was closed for restoration, and the work took about seven years. Walking across today, you are on the same line that has joined the two halves of the city for more than five centuries.
November 1944: mined, not destroyed
From 1994: closed for restoration, about seven years
Over the pier in the middle of the river, the parapet rises above a small guard post. Its niche is shaped like a mihrab, the prayer niche that faces Mecca in a mosque. The guard post was rebuilt in 2008. From here the whole river front of the old town is in view, from Kale to the bazaar.
North of the river lies the Ottoman old town: the bazaar, the baths and Kale on its hill. South lies Macedonia Square, laid out between 1920 and 1940. Since 2010 the government project Skopje 2014 has added new buildings, bridges and statues at both ends of the bridge, such as the Archaeological Museum to the north. The project was politically controversial.
