by Divna Pencic
After the catastrophic earthquake on 26th July, 1963, Skopje used its chance to become a city recognised as a symbol of international solidarity (the aid for the renewal and rebuilding of the city came from 82 countries worldwide and the United Nations Special Fund for reconstruction), modern urbanism and remarkable architectural buildings from the ’70. There is not a politician or an architect who does not commit to memory that first step of globalisation when for the first time both the East and the West got together, joining their efforts to build this modern city. And as hardly anywhere in the world, most of the ideas and conceptions for reconstruction of the city were materialised and made real. The urban plan for the city was made by two eminent planning bureaus, Doxiadis from Athens and Poliservis from Warsaw in collaboration with the Institute of Planning and Architecture of Skopje. Based on the compilation of the awarded concepts of two teams of architects, one of the Japanese architect, Kenzo Tange and the other of the Croatian architects, Radova Misevic and Fedor Wnzler, received on the international competition for urban plans for the city central area, a detailed urban plan for realisation, the famous “variation IX”, was prepared. According to that plan, and under the supervision of Kenzo Tange, were build the City Wall, the New Train Station, the Complex of Banks, and later on, there was an international competition for the Cultural Centre, the University Campus and some other buildings. Skopje used that chance to establish itself as a modern city with recognisable public and residential buildings and to become an interesting destination not only for tourists but also for urban planners and architects from all over the world.
In 2006 the City of Skopje had one more chance to get another symbol for international recognitions. It was about the initiative to build a Memorial House of Mother Teresa, the laureate of the Nobel Price for Peace in 1979, supported by the Vatican and the Catholic Church, the followers of her Sisters’ order, as well as by the entire political and general public in the Republic of Macedonia. Skopje is the city where Mother Teresa was born and the place from where she started her humanitarian work and devotion to her philanthropic believes. This represents a great honour and pride for the City of Skopje.
Skopje was once again faced with a challenge that required an appropriate consideration. The Ministry of Culture announced an International Competition for a Conceptual architectural design of a Memorial House of Mother Teresa. Exquisite architectural designs were received, among which the one of Jorge Marum, an architect from Portugal, was declared as winning. However, the government and the Initiation Committee decided to ignore the expert architectural opinion and the real values of architecture, and published a new announcement for International Competition, under which they awarded the first price to a design that they previously ordered from the architect Vangle Bozinovski, known after his architectural fairytales and schizophrenic architectural creations.
Unfortunately, for the City of Skopje that meant a lost chance, and for the architects, another example of unjust intervention into a fair play. What we have now is a structure which is all but a symbol of Mother Teresa and her life and work. As noted on the Skopje Forum 2009 by Professor Erich Raith (Technical University, Vienna) “the structure is designed very perfunctorily (in a hit-and-miss manner), missing out nothing that does not attract attention, with too many stories to tell, but without any essential message to give”. For him this structure, if it wasn’t for the cross, could very well be some disco or a casino. Professor Maren Harnack (Hamburg) stated that the structure “does not symbolise her life and her giving up from material goods”. For Vera Martinez (Berlin) are also questionable “the messages given by the interior of the house: a kitsch room, with a bed and a table with five chairs and four dinner sets, pretending as if all that had something to do with Mother Teresa”. A very plastic description was given by assistant Jovan Ivanovski from the Architectural Faculty in Skopje (University Cyril and Methodius): this structure reminds you of “someone’s materialised nightmares”.
For me personally, this structure looks very much like a tastelessly dressed girl, in lace stockings, but who cannot give up her gumboots, in a brocade skirt borrowed from her grandmother and a Chinese silky shirt, with Swarovski jewellery, and cosmonaut helmet on her head. She puts everything on, all she has ever dreamt of, as now she can afford to have it. Only she cannot decide the time in which she would like to live. This is even more emphasised by the narrations from the house interior. According to the custodian, “this is the dream of the little Teresa, to live in a normal city family”. I very much doubt that “little Teresa” was ever dreaming of petty bourgeois and snobbery life, devoted to material goods.
If it wasn’t built for such a noble person as Mother Teresa was, this structure might have even been enjoyable. But as it is now, it is a big offence. It offends with the whole procedure how it was selected; it offends with its pretentiousness, it offends with its arrogance, it offends with its tastelessness, but most of all, it offends with the totally missed correlation with the life and work of Mother Teresa.
In my personal opinion I strongly believe that this is a lost chance for Skopje to be once again listed on the maps of those who truly love and admire architecture and arts. Will Skopje get another chance? After this, it does not deserve one.
References:
http://www.forumskopje.com/
http://www.porta3.com.mk/
Monday, July 13, 2009
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