The Stone Bridge is Skopje's most enduring landmark and, in many ways, its symbolic backbone — a 215-metre Ottoman-era crossing that has spanned the Vardar River since the mid-15th century. Built during the reign of Sultan Murat II, it replaced an earlier Roman structure and served as the principal artery linking the old Turkish bazaar on the north bank with the Christian quarters to the south. Fifteen low stone arches carry it across the river, and the overall effect — especially when the Vardar runs high and grey in winter — is one of quiet, almost stubborn permanence. It has survived earthquakes, floods, two world wars and a devastating 1963 tremor that levelled much of the city around it, emerging each time more or less intact.
Monument