Skopje fire of 1689

In 1689 the Austrian general Enea Silvio Piccolomini led an army to capture Kosovo, Bosnia and Macedonia from the Ottoman Empire.

In the same time, successful development of Skopje was suddenly interrupted in 1689 by the entry of the Austrian army into Macedonia. During the Austrian-Turkish war (1683–1699), Austrian troops under the command of General Piccolomini penetrated in an unstoppable advance far into the interior of European Turkey and, after taking the fortress of Kaçanik, descended into the Skopje plain. On 25 October 1689, they took Skopje without much struggle, for the Turkish army and some of the inhabitants had left the town. Ottoman forces were due back with a counteroffensive in three days. By order of General Piccolomini, Skopje was set on fire, and the conflagration lasted two days (26 and 27 October); great many houses and shops were destroyed. Along the way on his retreat from Skopje, General Piccolomini contracted and died from cholera. Some accounts of these events state that Piccolomini razed Skopje due to an inability of his forces to occupy and govern a city so far from his headquarters.

Buildings damaged by the fire

• Kapan Han
• Skopje clock tower
• İshak Bey Mosque
• Yahya Pasha Mosque
• Sultan Murad Mosque and its medrese
• Suli An
• Kursumli An
• Skopje Bedesten
• Arasta Mosque
• Church of the Ascension of Jesus