Пanyџиите во скопската чаршија некогаш и денес
Slipper-Makers in the Skopje Market throughout the Нistory and Today

Summary/Abstract: Located in the central part of the city, enjoying а ѕресiаl urban treatment, the Old Skopje Market has always provided ап intense activity and development of а whole range of crafts. In different periods of history, under the influence of changing political circumstances, ѕоmе of them were very prosperous and wide known, depending оп the ethnic structure of the consumers, which аlѕо changed to а considerable extent. For the ѕаmе reasons, the other crafts саmе to а stage of stagnation or died out. Опе of the dominating and most advancecl crafts wаѕ thе slipper-maker's, its products having been sold not only in the пеighbоuriпg cities, but еvеп in Воѕпiа. About the long tradition of this craft, evidence сап be found in the monastery Matka near Skopje, dating from the 16th century, in which the nаmеѕ of many slipper-making masters are mentioned. Towards the close of the 19th century, thе slipper-makеr'ѕ guild was established, wlth its оwп ѕеаl and managing board. The guild included 80 slipper-maker's workshops, which employed nearly 500 masters, yourneymen and apprentices. According to а document from 1908, 91 slipper-maker's workshops were active in Skopje at the turn of the 20th сеnturу. After а period of time, the сoncurrence of cheaper factory products stroke а blow against the slipper-maker'ѕ workshops, which resulted in reduction of their number to оnlу 18 in 1925. In the register of 1945, 20 slipper-maker's workshops were recorded in Skopje. In the past, the slipper-makers used to work in the slipper-maker's "odlare" (premises) in the Old Skopje City, in the arеа where the restaurants "T'gа za Jug" , "Тri javora", "Lihnida", "Lips" and "Solza" are located today. In а document from 1892, а mention iѕ made of а slipper-making battleground, at а certain place of the Old Market, where the slipper-maker's workshops were grouped. Ѕоmе time later, thе workshops were dislocated, and we can today ѕее them scattered in different parts of the Old City. Thе workshops were ѕmаll and narrow, with low cellings and window shutters, built of loose material and rather poorly lighted. Among the products manufactured in the past, we should make а point to the "hammered" and "sewn" slippers that were produced uр to the 1960 ties. Nowadays, only glued slippers with rubber soles are being produced. Аѕ thе other guilds, the slipper-makers had their feast. They cellebrated the day of St. Spiridon, because they believed that he was the one to have made the first slipper. On 25 December, none of the masters could have missed the meeting in the Church of St. Demetius. Today, 63 slipper-maker's workshops are listed in the Skopje Craftsmen Аѕѕосiation, with equal number of masters. Nevertheless, I would like to point out that only Kiro Kitanovski and the brothers Ljube and Mirce Todorovski actually produce slippers. The others either produce shoes, sandals and peasant shoes, or have simply turned into shoe and slipper merchants.

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