Financial Police Office / Public Prosecution

Photos by Dimitris Vetsikas

The Financial Police Office / Public Prosecution building is a sample of the new architectural layer of the city and is an example of a newly constructed piece of architecture with the goal of becoming an urban artefact by visually imposing historical values.
The architectural language being used is implying a different course of history. It appears as if there has been a time in the past when the architectural production in Skopje was speaking that specific language, but that is not the case. In that sense, this building is rethinking history and constructing architectural memories of a time that never was.
It was built in 2013 by Polar DOOEL.

In its volume and architectural language this building is clearly trying to copy the Tempietto Bramante in Rome (San Pietro in Montorio) by Donato Bramante, mimicking its renaissance appearance. The Financial Police Office and Public Prosecution in Skopje are placed in a building from the year 2013 that is imitating a martyrium in Rome from the year 1502. It is an enlarged version of a building which comes from an entirely different socio-cultural, political, economic, etc. context, so even though they look very much alike, they cannot be a representation of the same ideals.
The Financial Police Office in Skopje is not a standing representation of Donato Bramante’s life, it doesn’t carry that historical value; it simply looks like another building that does.
This example of a borrowed building shows drastic difference in size from the original. The martyrium is enlarged three times so that it can constrain the new program Skopje2014 planned for it.

This shows that style and silhouette are taken as important and both scale and content are neglected in the process of borrowing architecture. This is an example which shows that the Skopje2014 is dealing only with exteriors. By neglecting other aspects of architecture and using only the images of it, the project shows its ideological goal. It’s not dealing with the physical buildings, but just with the image they are constructing.

Another aspect of this building‘s presence is its position. Same as the example of the Archaeological Museum, it is positioned in a way that together with the buildings next to it (also part of Skopje2014) it is hiding and erasing from sight the existing architecture behind it, disconnecting it from the river bank.

Behind the Financial Police Office/ Public Prosecution is the Macedonian Opera and Ballet. The platform in front the Opera and Ballet building was gradually lowering its level towards the river and forming the entrance square. Today it doesn’t exist anymore.
The physical presence of the new architecture is disrespectful towards these surroundings. It erased the opera and ballet’s platform and took over the public space along the river.
As the Financial Police Office / Public Prosecution building was built right at the river’s edge, it then was followed by the construction of a bridge that is leading towards the buildings entrance.