The Central Post Office in Skopje will become a multifunctional cultural center, announced the Minister of Culture and Tourism Zoran Ljutkov.

He points out in the post on Facebook that the meeting between the Minister of Transport and Communications Aleksandar Nikoloski, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Maria Gjorgova and the Ambassador of the European Union, David Geer, took place in a positive atmosphere.

"At the meeting, the commitment to joint engagement and full commitment to the release of the processes for the realization of the conservation-restoration works of the Counter-hall of the Central Post Office in Skopje were expressed. The facility of the Counter-hall is a distinctive feature of post-earthquake Skopje and the urban development of the city. This masterpiece of the architect Janko Konstantinov perished in a fire in 2013. Unfortunately, then the monumental cubist murals with scenes from the National Liberation Struggle of the Macedonian people, the work of the doyen of Macedonian painting, Borko Lazeski, were completely destroyed, Ljutkov points out.

He expects that with conservation and restoration works on this cultural heritage, the shine of the building will be restored, which will then be adapted into a multifunctional cultural center with contents that will enrich the cultural offer of Skopje.

The fire burned away the hopes

Post, as a state-owned joint-stock company, has been facing a crisis in its operations in recent decades due to unprofessional management, which was also stated in the audit reports. In the period before the corona pandemic, "Post" somehow managed to service the services for the citizens and regularly pay salaries to the employees, but after 2020 it is evident that the company is in free fall, with constant employee strikes with the main demand for higher salaries, with frequent change of directors, with new non-productive employments and the inability to transform the postal company into a modern one that will offer a fast, international flow of parcels and goods, which have been particularly popular in recent years in addition to traditional postal services.

The central post office in the center of Skopje was partially devastated in the fire in 2013 when the completely impressive counter hall burned down and when the artworks, the murals of the eminent Macedonian artist Borko Lazeski, with partisan motives were irretrievably lost. That's when the hopes that "Poshta" with its modest income from less and less services will reconstruct the most beautiful and luxurious part of the whole, which is an architectural work of Janko Konstantinov, designed in the 70s and completed sometime in 1981, sank.

Namely, the architect Konstantinov designed a round expressive form that resembles a lotus flower, cast from natural concrete. The central space that was used for the reception of the parties was covered with a dome, and after the fire only the concrete construction remained and the memories that here now, where pigeons fly and where grass grows between the concrete cracks, there was once an imposing post office.

In November 2022, the Central Post Office and Telecommunication Center, which is also the work of the architect Konstatinov, was officially classified as cultural heritage.

The fire completely destroyed the glass roof of the counter hall and the interior, and only the hall for international telephone conversations was less destroyed, as well as the offices on the other side of this hall, which are still used by employees and management of the Post Office.

By the way, the counter hall was on the list of 7 most endangered monuments in Europe, prepared by Europa Nostra and the European Investment Bank. The technical report published last year describes the current situation and provides recommendations and directions for future renovation.

The idea of ​​the ruined "Post" hall regaining its luster but with a new purpose as a cultural space for artists and creatives is not new, but so far it has not been realized even though three years ago, with the light installation made by the designer Martin Dimitrijev on the roof of the building it shone outwardly at least.

Take a look at how the inside of the counter hall of the Post office currently looks: