Porta Macedonia is a triumphal arch on Pella Square, a pedestrianised zone just south of the main Macedonia Square. It was built in 2012 as part of the "Skopje 2014" urban redesign project. The arch is 21 metres tall, clad in white marble, and covered in bas-relief panels depicting scenes from Macedonian history from antiquity through independence.
Like everything in Skopje 2014, it is visually overwhelming and intended to project national identity. Stand back and look at it as an artefact of 21st-century Balkan politics — a country asserting its legitimacy through stone and marble — and it becomes more interesting than it first appears. The square around it is pleasant in the evening, lined with cafes.