The Isar fortress above Stip is entering full restoration and conservation - a project worth 1.5 million euros, with an 18-month deadline. The goal is for the city's centuries-old symbol to grow into a tourist attraction along the lines of Samuel's Fortress in Ohrid and the Skopje Kale.

The money comes from the government, through the Hungarian loan. That is not a footnote - it means the restoration of a Stip monument is being paid for with borrowing, like a good part of the country's other infrastructure. Whether 1.5 million euros for stone on a hilltop is a good line item in that loan is a question worth asking now, not in 18 months.

Work has already started. An access road for transporting construction material has been cut on site, and the contractor "Stenton gradba", working with the Stip city museum, is selecting suitable stone in order to preserve the authenticity of the structure.

Selecting the stone together with a museum is the part that gives hope. That is the difference between conservation and covering over - and it is exactly what was missing from some earlier Macedonian "restorations" of historic sites, where the new material swallowed the old. It remains to be confirmed in the execution, not in a press release.

The plan foresees full conservation of the fortress, landscaping of the Acropolis, three new viewpoints and completely new lighting. Stip Mayor Ivan Jordanov called the project a capital undertaking for culture and tourism, one that will give residents and tourists a view over the whole city and over the Bregalnica and Otinja rivers.

Isar is one of the few points in eastern Macedonia that has both history and a view in the same place. The project is designed to give the eastern part of the country a recognisable destination - something that has barely featured in tourism calculations until now.

Eighteen months sounds like a reasonable deadline for a conservation job of this scale. The question that will be measured is not whether it finishes on time, but what will be standing up there when the scaffolding comes down - a restored fortress, or a new fortress in the place of the old one.