Skopje hosts Beaujolais Nouveau Day

Beaujolais Nouveau Day, organised by the French Cultural Center in Skopje, was marked yesterday in the capital.
The event, which aims to present this red wine fermented for only a few weeks and to establish a nice and long French tradition in Macedonia, was opened by French ambassador to Macedonia Jean-Claude Schlumberger.
Beaujolais Nouveau is released for sale on the third Thursday of November and the day is celebrated in many French-speaking and non French-speaking countries.
The Skopje event was held after a hiatus of several years. Managers Dimitar Pavlevski and Aleksandar Vuckovski at the ceremony were introduced into the Beaujolais Nouveau order for their efforts in affirming French-Macedonian relations.

Skopje observes its Liberation Day

Many cultural, humanitarian and sports events are to mark Sunday the Liberation Day - 13 November - of Macedonia's capital - Skopje.

On the occasion, the '13 November' award will be presented at the cinema 'Frosina' to this year laureates: PhD Nikita Sekutovski, Prof. Ljubinka Bosotova - education; Bojku Fejzi and Dimitar Masevski - art; Boris Pop Gjorcev - journalisam; Bosko Zaborski - sports; Aleksandar Janevski - humanitarian activities; Mico Popovski - business; the Center for Environmental Reaserch and Information 'Eco-Svest'; as well as students - Ivan Antovski, Tasko Smilevski and Aleksandar Stepanovski.

Early today, Skopje Mayor Koce Trajanovski met with a group of veterans, who fought for Skopje liberation in 1944.

Skopje in November 2011

State, diplomatic delegations are also set to lay fresh flowers on the monuments of Skopje Liberators, Partisan Cemetery and General 'Mihajlo Apostolski' monument.

The program also includes a Red Cross blood donation campaign and several sports events.

Skopje was liberated on 13 November 1944 by Yugoslav Partisan units of the Macedonian National Liberation Army. Soon after, Skopje became the capital of the newly established People's Republic of Macedonia within the Yugoslavia.

In 1963 the city suffered considerable damage from a major earthquake, which killed over 1,000 people. International financial aid poured into Skopje in order to help rebuild the city, which since then has been known as the 'City of Solidarity'.