This is the former Kino Kultura, one of Skopje’s old city-centre cinemas, built in 1937 by the Kostić brothers and once part of the city’s everyday cultural life. I rather liked the design of it, it reminded me of some old British cinemas and it merrily spent decades showing films, first as a private cinema and later within the Yugoslav-era public cinema system, before the familiar combination of political change, economic transition and new viewing habits did what it has done to so many old cinemas which is just made them nearly impossible to operate. In 1998, it was returned to the original family as the Government had taken it from them, but they didn’t have the resources to do anything with the building.
The building sat closed and deteriorating, before being revived in 2015 as Kino Kultura, a contemporary arts and performance space. That second life has now ended as well, leaving the building in this rather battered state, with graffiti at street level and the old ‘Култура’ sign still clinging on above, as though unwilling to admit the show is entirely over. It is not conventionally beautiful now, but I liked it for the past that it represented and, indeed, the earthquake that it survived. It’s centrally located in Skopje and it would be rather lovely if it could be restored to its former glory.