The Dame Gruev Statue is another beautiful 5-meter bronze reminder of Macedonian history placed on Macedonia Square just beside the Stone Bridge. It forms a pair with the Gotse Delchev Statue, also on the Square. These two statues, created by artist Zarko Bashevski, cost 850, 000 Euros as part of the Skopje 2014 Project.
The Macedonian authorities chose Dame Gruev to be commemorated since he is well known as a Macedonian revolutionary leader, a founder and one of the most prominent members of the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization. Even as a student he was an idealist, often fighting for principles which got him in trouble repeatedly with the authorities. He was an early supporter of using the Macedonian language in education, which was suppressed at that time due to fierce Bulgarian and Serbian propaganda. Unwilling to accept oppression and bondage as a condition of existence, he was quick to accept the idea of an uprising against the Ottoman Empire. He famously said, “It is enough. It is better to face a terrible end than terror without end.”
Gruev engaged in many secret meetings and organized resistance against the Ottoman forces in Macedonia, including the famous Ilinden Uprising of 1903. In 1906, he and his followers were discovered by Ottoman troops near Rusinovo, in the Osogovo Mountains near the Bulgarian border. A battle ensued, and he was killed.
Eventual Macedonian freedom is partly fruit of the battles fought by this outstanding revolutionary. for having paid the ultimate price in the struggle for Macedonian independence, Dame Gruev rightly deserves his place of honor on Macedonia Square.
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