12-14. May 2024. Macedonia (Makedonija / Македонија) AKA North Macedonia.

Join me for another Balkans drive-about, this time in the Northeastern Region of Macedonia for a visit to Kumanovo and then an exit from the country.

This video is the final of 5 presenting my 28-day springtime drive around Macedonia for 837 miles (1,347 km) looking for Yugoslav-era spomeniks (monuments). I found (76) of them. The spomeniks are World War II memorial sculptures that were part of a grand project of Tito's to unify socialist Yugoslavia in the aftermath of the NOB. Estimates put the number of such spomeniks built at up to 40,000. These communist works of art are unique and beautiful and often abandoned.

The places I rolled through are (Part 9-A): Skopje; (Part 9-B): Tetovo, Srbinovo, Novo Selo, Mavrovo National Park, Trnica, Klenoec, Vrbjani, Slatino, Ozdoleni, Belčišta, Botun, Ohrid, Radožda, Struga, Vevčani, Galičica National Park, Lake Prespa, Oteševo, Kosel; (Part 9-C): Gorno Krušje, Resen, Bitola, Heraclea Lyncestis, Demir Hisar, Ostriltsi, Kruševo, Prilepec, Prilep, Mažučište, Dabnica, Pletvar; (Part 9-D): Kavadarci, Negotino, Stobi, Veles; (Part 9-E): Kumanovo

Special shoutout to Donald Niebyl and his spomenikdatabase.org; without his thorough work, it would be a far greater task to locate these monuments and the learn the stories behind them.

The Spomenik Series: [ Ссылка ]

Macedonia Playlist: [ Ссылка ]

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