[20] When Vardar Macedonia was annexed by the Kingdom of Serbia in 1912, the city officially became Skoplje (Serbian Cyrillic: Скопље) and many languages adopted this name.

Precipitation is relatively low due to the pronounced rain shadow of the Accursed Mountains to the north-west, being significantly less than what is received on the Adriatic Sea coast at the same latitude.

[44] The south bank of the Vardar river generally comprises high-rise tower blocks, including the vast Karpoš neighbourhood which was built in the 1970s west of the centre.

[42] On the north bank, where the most ancient parts of the city lie, the Old Bazaar was restored and its surroundings were rebuilt with low-rise buildings, so as not to spoil views of the Skopje Fortress.

Several institutions, including the university and the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, were also relocated to the north bank to reduce borders between the ethnic communities.

A highly controversial[45] urban project, Skopje 2014, was adopted by the municipal authorities to give the city a more monumental and historical aspect, and thus to transform it into a proper national capital.

[46] The large Albanian minority felt it was not represented in the new monuments,[47] and launched side projects, including a new square over the boulevard that separates the city centre from the Old Bazaar.

[55] Skopje's high levels of pollution are caused by a combination of smoke from houses, emissions from the industry, public and private transport, and a general lack of interest in caring for the environment.

An application called AirCare (Macedonian: МојВоздух, romanized: MojVozduh) has been launched by local eco-activist Gorjan Jovanovski to help citizens track pollution levels.

Faults on government sensors are especially frequent when the pollution is measured is extremely high, according to the AQILHC (Air Quality Index Levels of Health Concern).

On 29 November 2019, a march, organised by the Skopje Smog Alarm activist community,[60] attracted thousands of people who opposed the government's lack of action in dealing with the city's pollution, which has worsened since 2017, contributing to around 1300 deaths annually.

The locality eventually disappeared during the Iron Age[63] when Scupi emerged on Zajčev Rid hill, some 5 km (3.1 mi) west of the fortress promontory.

It served as the Bulgarian capital from 972 to 992, and Tsar Samuel ruled it from 976[84] until 1004, when its governor surrendered it to Byzantine Emperor Basil the Bulgar Slayer in 1004 in exchange for the titles of patrikios and strategos.

Kaloyan brought Skopje back into the re-established Second Bulgarian Empire in 1203[90][91] until his nephew Strez declared autonomy along the Upper Vardar with Serbian aid only five years later.

[94] Meanwhile, in the parallel civil war for the Crown in Tarnovo, the Skopje boyar and grandson of Stefan Nemanja Constantine Tikh gained the upper hand and ruled until the Uprising of Ivaylo, Europe's only successful peasant revolt, led to his deposition from power.

The neighbourhood displayed mixed Christian Albanian anthroponymy with cases of Slavicisation present (e.g. Palić; Pal + Slavic suffix ić).

Individuals bearing Albanian anthroponyms, be they in conjunction with Islamic, Slavic or Christian ones, also appear in the neighbourhoods of Kasim Fakih, Dursun Saraç, Kujumxhi Mentesheli, Çerep, Jandro, Stanimir, Vllah Dançu and Rela.

These individual Sipahis were closely related by descent and blood, and taking account kinship ties, even though they had heterogeneous, Christian, Slavic and Oriental names, they appear to have been Albanians.

The Old Bazaar of Skopje, the columns of the Stone Bridge, and the murals in the upper parts of the Church of Saint Panteleimon, Gorno Nerezi were all severely damaged.

[18][105] During the Tanzimat reforms, nationalism arose in the Ottoman Empire and in 1870 a new Bulgarian Exarchate was established and its separate diocese was created, based on ethnic identity, rather than religious principles.

[139][140][141][142] Skopje became the capital city of the newly proclaimed Democratic Federal Macedonia as set up by the ASNOM on 2 August 1944 in the Bulgarian occupation zone in Yugoslavia.

After World War II, Skopje greatly benefited from Socialist Yugoslav policies which encouraged industry and the development of Macedonian cultural institutions.

[146][147][148] The Albanian population of Skopje also increased as people from the northern villages migrated to the city and others came from Kosovo either to provide manpower for reconstruction or fled the deteriorating political situation, especially during the 1990s.

[2] Macedonians form an overwhelming majority of the population in the municipalities of Aerodrom, Centar, Ǵorče Petrov, Karpoš and Kisela Voda, which are all south of the Vardar.

[216] After the Second World War, Aeroput was replaced by JAT Yugoslav Airlines, which linked Skopje to a number of domestic and international destinations until the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.

[218] Skopje's airport has connections to several European cities, including Athens, Vienna, Bratislava, Zürich, Brussels, Oslo, Istanbul, London and Rome.

Its collections include Macedonian and foreign art, with works by Fernand Léger, André Masson, Pablo Picasso, Hans Hartung, Victor Vasarely, Alexander Calder, Pierre Soulages, Alberto Burri and Christo.

The architecture of that time is very similar to the one of Central Europe, but some buildings are more creative, such as the Neo-Moorish Arab House and the Neo-Byzantine train station, both built in 1938.

[134] The reconstruction turned Skopje into a proper modernist city, with large blocks of flats, austere concrete buildings and scattered green spaces.

The festival has an international character, always representing theatres from all over the world that present and enhance the exchange and circulation of young-fresh-experimental-avant-garde theatrical energy and experience between its participants on one side and the audience on the other.