PLACE DE MACEDONIA (ПЛОШТАД ПЛОШТАД)

This 18,000 m² square (Плоштад Македонија/Ploštad Makedonija) forms the center of the city. It is marked by the presence of numerous kitsch monuments erected as part of the "Skopje 2014" project. The most imposing is the Horse Warrior monument, as tall as an eight-storey building. Installed in 2011, this 14.5 m-high bronze statue stands on a 10 m-high stone and bronze column at the center of a musical fountain surrounded by eight water-spitting bronze lions. Made in Italy, it depicts Alexander the Great riding Bucephalus. It was designed by local artist Valentina Stefanovska, responsible for several of the city's most recent monuments, including the Macedonian Gate. Initially named after Alexander the Great, the statue was renamed following protests from the Greek government. However, this is not the first time the square has been adorned with a horseman. Under the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, two equestrian statues of Kings Peter ^I of Serbia and Alexander ^I of Yugoslavia guarded the entrance to the stone bridge. These were destroyed by the Bulgarian occupiers in 1941. The square itself has changed name and appearance several times over the last century. For a long time, it was known as Burmali Square, in reference to the ^15th-century mosque that stood there until the 1920s. It was renamed in honor of Marshal Tito in 1945, then Independence Square in 1991, before taking on its current name in 2004.