Balgarianovinite.com The Old Railway Station in Skopje, its clock forever stopped at 5:17 a.m., remains the enduring symbol of the devastating earthquake that struck the city on July 26, 1963. Partially destroyed by the 6.9-magnitude quake, the station has housed the Museum of the City of Skopje since 1970.
The earthquake, followed by several aftershocks, destroyed about 15,800 homes and public buildings and damaged another 28,000. More than 200,000 people were left homeless, 1,070 were killed and over 4,000 were injured.
More than six decades later, the disaster remains deeply embedded in the city’s collective memory. Advertisements for residential property routinely specify a building’s earthquake resistance, while the station’s clock, frozen at the exact moment the earthquake struck, continues to remind residents and visitors alike of the tragedy.
Located today in the heart of Skopje, the station was built between 1938 and 1940 to a design by architect Velimir Gavrilovic, replacing an earlier station dating from 1873. Before the earthquake, it featured a spacious marble-clad main hall, a restaurant on the ground floor and a hotel on the first floor, and served about 1,000 passengers a day, with 24 trains arriving and departing daily, including the famous Orient Express.
The reinforced-concrete building lost about two-thirds of its structure in the earthquake. Its western wing and part of the central section survived and now house the Museum of the City of Skopje.
Founded in 1949 and opened to the public in 1951, the museum moved into the former railway station in 1970. Today it occupies some 2,000 square metres of exhibition space and holds around 22,000 archaeological, historical, ethnological and art-history artefacts from the Skopje region. Skopje’s Old Railway Station, Frozen at 5:17, Remains Symbol of 1963 Earthquake 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-07-26 10:25:28 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law