Sixty-three years have passed since the catastrophic earthquake that razed Skopje in 1963. To mark the anniversary, the City of Skopje organised something more than a wreath and a speech - a free panoramic tour of the city on an open-top bus, on which citizens had the chance to get to know Skopje as it was before the catastrophe.

With a panoramic bus and expert guidance from guides of the Macedonian Association of Tourist Guides and Companions, the people of Skopje set off on a journey through time. Stories of the buildings that were demolished, of the places that shaped the city's former face, of life before 26 July 1963 - all that which today exists only in old photographs and in the memory of the oldest. The departure was from the „Makedonija” Gate.

„Skopje is a city that turned tragedy into strength, and memories into the foundation on which it builds its future”, wrote mayor Orce Đorđievski. And there is truth in those words - few cities in the world know so well the feeling of having to rebuild from ruins, and few know so well how fragile the border is between an ordinary day and a catastrophe.

Such initiatives, beyond any politics, are worth it. Because memory is not automatic - it is nurtured, or it is lost. Every generation that grows up not knowing what old Skopje looked like, where the buildings that fell once stood, how much was lost in a few seconds, is a generation missing a part of its own identity. The panoramic bus will not bring back the lost buildings. But it can bring back what is worth just as much - the story of them, and the reminder of why the city we have today looks exactly as it does.