KRUŠEVO – POMIĘDZY ŚWIĘTYM MIASTEM MACEDOŃSKIEGO NACJONALIZMU A PIERWSZYM „ETNOMIASTEM” W EUROPIE
KRUŠEVO – BETWEEN THE SACRED TOWN OF MACEDONIAN NATIONALISM AND THE FIRST ‘ETHNO-TOWN’ IN EUROPE

Summary/Abstract: This article consists of three parts. In the first, I describe stages of the modern nation building process by the Macedonian Slavs that has continued since the second half of the twentieth century until this day. I argue that Macedonian nationalism that was aimed at creating a new Slavic nation, could not have been successful without support from socialist Yugoslavia. Along with the disintegration of socialist order, a multifarious process of reconstruction of the most important Macedonian identity discourses occurred. As a result, a part of political and intellectual elites set out to persuade Macedonians that the beginnings of their community are rooted in antiquity. Like their communist predecessors, they reconstruct the image of the Macedonian ‘ideological homeland’ by means of architectural memory carriers. However, I will present in the last part of my article, that their activities could be interpreted as a new way of thinking about the identity of a national community. The contemporary policy of managing the cultural landscape executed by the Macedonian authorities is not only one element of nationalist ideology, but also constitutes an attempt to create a ‘nation brand’ that would contribute to Macedonian recognisability and competitiveness globally. Kruševo, which is considered the ‘sacred’ town of Macedonian nationalism, constitutes a good example to observe the functioning of such processes.

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