Since 2010, Macedonian authorities have been revamping the capital, Skopje, after decades of neglect. The Skopje 2014 project should give the city plenty of new municipal buildings, including museums, theaters, and concert halls. Dozens of new statues are also being erected to commemorate the nation's heroes. Although supporters of the initiative claim it will inject some new life into Skopje's rather drab socialist atmosphere, critics say a country as poor as Macedonia could find better uses for the tens of millions of dollars being spent on the overhaul. (13 PHOTOS)
Skopje's Controversial Facelift
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Soldiers unveil a statue of late Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski, who died in a plane crash in 2004.
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A woman lights a candle at a statue of Mother Teresa (Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu), who was born in Skopje in 1910.
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An enormous statue of Alexander of Macedon (commonly known as Alexander the Great) has been erected in Skopje's main square.
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The Strength, Glory and Victory statue at Skopje Fortress
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A statue of the early Christian missionaries Cyril and Methodius, known as the "Apostles to the Slavs," outside the state university in Skopje
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A crane lifts a 13-meter-high bronze statue of Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, onto a 15-meter-high pedestal in central Skopje.
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Statues of the anti-Ottoman revolutionaries Gotse Delchev and Dame Gruev.
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The Porta Macedonia triumphal arch in Skopje's Pella Square. Erected at a cost of 4.4 million euros, the 21-meter-high arch is dedicated to 20 years of Macedonian independence.
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A monument in memory of soldiers and policemen killed in ethnic Albanian-Macedonian violence in 2001
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Skopje's Archaeology Museum houses artifacts from Macedonia's ancient past.
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A marble sculpture of Tzar Samoil, seen as one of Macedonia's founding fathers
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The new Foreign Ministry building in Skopje