The reconstruction of part of Skopje's Old Bazaar is in its final phase. It covers 1,567 square metres - Samardziska Street and five smaller stretches - and the total value of the investment exceeds 28 million denars. That is around 455,000 euros for something that, according to the Municipality of Cair, is being done for the first time in more than five decades.

The work went from the underground infrastructure to the final surface. The water and sewage networks, the electrical infrastructure and the fibre-optic network were built or renewed. Above ground, the cobblestones were restored using travertine, new lighting in a traditional style was installed, and the pedestrian surfaces were improved.

"We promised we would give the Bazaar its shine back. Today you can already see the result," said Cair mayor Izet Medziti, adding that the goal is for the Bazaar to have modern, functional infrastructure while keeping its authentic appearance, historic character and recognisable architectural identity.

That "five decades" is the hardest part of the announcement

The sentence was delivered as a success - and it is one. But it is also a measurement. The most visited historic space in Skopje, the place photographed by every tourist who steps off a plane, waited five decades for someone to replace the water pipe beneath the cobblestones.

In those fifty years, projects with many times bigger budgets passed through the city. The Bazaar, which is on its own the strongest tourism argument Skopje has, stayed in the queue. Which is why it is worth understanding how 28 million denars is both a large and a small figure at once: large for one street and five stretches, small for something deferred for decades.

Restoring it with travertine is the right call - a stone that does not break the picture, unlike some of the solutions handed to this part of town in the past. If the new lighting really is in a traditional style, then the job was done with respect for the place.

What remains is what is always hardest with bazaars: what comes after. Craftsmen and shop owners lived through months of construction work outside their doors. If, once it is finished, the renovated street becomes only a prettier backdrop for photographs rather than a place where someone still works a trade, then what has been renovated is a facade, not a bazaar.