The 1963 Skopje earthquake destroyed approximately 80 % of the city , including most of the neoclassical buildings in the central part of Skopje . The rebuilding that followed saw the construction of mostly plain modernist architecture . This is one of the reasons given by the VMRO-DPMNE government for the necessity of the project , to give Skopje a more monumental and visually pleasing image . Another reason is to restore the missing sense of national pride and create a more metropolitan atmosphere . In a speech at the opening of Porta Macedonia in January 2012 , then Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski stated that Skopje 2014 was his idea
1963 Skopje earthquake
1963 Skopje earthquake
Skopje 2014