North Macedonia: They want to name a street in Skopje after Doxiadis

A group of architects and intellectuals from North Macedonia have submitted a request to the City Council and the Mayor of Skopje, Danela Arsofska, to name a street in Skopje after the Greek architect Konstantinos Doxiadis, in order to reflect his contribution to the restoration of the city after its destruction by the 1963 earthquake.

The text of the request states, inter alia: «After the devastating earthquake that struck our city of Skopje on 26 July 1963, the city was registered in the consciousness of domestic and international public opinion as a “city of solidarity” and not by chance, because many countries participated in the restoration and reconstruction with their experts, their work, material aid and donations, as well as many internationally renowned architects who participated in the process of shaping the new architectural landscape of the city of Skopje under reconstruction.».

Skopje was hit in July 1963 by a devastating earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale. The earthquake left 1,070 people dead and over 3,000 injured, and left more than 200,000 people homeless. Four fifths of the buildings in the historic city centre collapsed, as did many public buildings.

A huge outpouring of support for the suffering people of Skopje was immediately generated and the response of the international community to provide assistance was immediate.

The initiative for the reconstruction of Skopje was taken by the UN and Greece's contribution was significant. The international organisation set up a special fund and in November 1964 commissioned the office of the internationally renowned urban planner Konstantinos Doxiadis (1913-1975) to draw up the plans for the new Skopje city. In total, the Doxiadis office sent 21 experts to Skopje (engineers, traffic engineers, architects, plumbing specialists), headed by the civil engineer Pericles Papamatthaiou. A year later, the implementation of Doxiadis' plans was entrusted to the Japanese architect Kenjo Tange, who was awarded the Pritzker Prize, also known as the Nobel Prize for Architecture, in 1987.