On This Day In History: Fire Of Skopje Started Intentionally – On Oct 26, 1689

AncientPages.com - On October 26, 1689, Austrian General Enea Silvio Piccolomini led a campaign against the Ottomans in Kosovo, Bosnia, and Macedonia.

Piccolomini (ca.1640-1689) was an Italian nobleman with his root in Siena in Italy.

During the offensive, the city of Skopje (the present-day capital of the Republic of Macedonia) was plagued by cholera epidemics.

General Piccolomini ordered the city to be burned to prevent the outburst of the disease, or, by other accounts, to retaliate for the siege of Vienna. Some versions of these events state that Piccolomini razed Skopje due to the inability of his forces to occupy and govern a city.

On this day, the fire of Skopje started; it destroyed much of the city; only some stone-built structures, such as the fortress, churches, and mosques, were relatively undamaged.

Piccolomini's intention was not to continue southwards and take Macedonia but to take Durres and Albania and to reach the sea. But to show his army's strength and destroy this crucial Turkish fortification, he decided to burn down Skopje.

Another reason for his decision was the cholera epidemic raging in Skopje. From the hillsides of the Vodno mountain, Piccolomini observed the blaze:

    "I decided, although it was not easily, to burn the town into ashes. I am sorry for the houses such as I have not seen at all in this war. The mosques are from the highest quality marble and porphyry, decorated with thousands of lamps on a golden plated holders, which one would devote equal attention even in Rome. I feel sorry for the nice antiquities, gardens, and pleasure grounds. All this I give to the flames so as not to leave the enemy anything he could put to use."

The fire, which had a disastrous effect on the city, was raging for two days, and except for the massive stone buildings, Skopje was destroyed.

Its population declined from around 60,000 to around 10,000, and it lost its regional importance as a trading center.

General Piccolomini contracted the plague himself in Skopje. His army was defeated.

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