The local initiative for setting up signposts and information boards for access to the Skopje Aquaduct emerged as a request from citizens who wanted to visit this cultural heritage in Skopje, but due to non-existent travel information, they had difficulty reaching it even though it is in the city area.
The Skopje Aquaduct is an imposing building, but unfortunately, although it is a cultural monument, it has been forgotten by the competent institutions and it is more and more subject to the ravages of time. The non-existent road signalization was a problem for finding and accessing the Skopje Aquaduct. There was no information board at the site, so visitors could not get any information when they visited.
With this initiative, the team of CCA Skopje, on Kachanichki Pat and Blvd. Slovenia set up 10 signposts at key points for access to the Skopje Aquaduct and two information boards with historical data in Macedonian and English, to better inform domestic and foreign visitors.
***
SKOPJE AQUADUCT (length 387.98 m, height 16.5 m)
The exact date of construction of the Skopje Aqueduct is not known. It is considered to date from the time of the Roman Empire, i.e. Byzantium, in the time of Justinian I (from 527 – 554) who originated from Tauresium (probably near the village of Taor in the southern part of the Skopje valley) and is therefore called and Justinian Aquaduct. Its construction is connected with the demise of the ancient settlement Skupi in the village of Bardovci (especially after the devastating earthquake in 518 AD when the ancient Skupi practically died and life moved to the Skopje Fortress. According to the research of the existing routes and Turkish records, water was conducted through the aqueduct from the Lavovec spring in the village of Gluvo on Skopska Crna Gora, to the “Topdziska barrack”, the Mustafa Pasha Mosque, to the former Turkish hukumat, Kurshumli-An and Isa Bey’s Mosque. The water was transported through the Aquaduct through pipes that travelled from West to East.
—————————————————
27 October 2020