Reviving Old Places in Macedonia With AI

Goce Mitevski used ComfyUI and the MiniMax H3 large language model to generate AI videos reviving historical Skopje and other North Macedonian locations, drawing on archival images from the X/Twitter account Yugoslavian Visuals. Mitevski produced the videos on an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070Ti with 16GB RAM, stating they were made "basically for free" using open-weight models. The videos depict sites including Boulevard Partizanski Odredi, the Old Bazaar, Macedonia Square, the Skopje Railway Station in 1985, and the Makedonium monument, many of them rebuilt after Skopje's 1963 earthquake.

Goce Mitevski https://www.gocemitevski.com Reviving Old Places in Macedonia With AI Yugoslavian Visuals https://x.com/YugoslavVisuals – A visual journey around the former nation of Yugoslavia, is a fantastic X/Twitter profile. It publishes rare images of old or non-existing places in former Yugoslavia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslavia . Skopje, the capital of today’s North Macedonia, is in a lot of these images. The city was destroyed by a devastating earthquake https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1963 Skopje earthquake in 1963 and rebuilt from the grounds-up with the support of the international community. Skopje was then part of Socialist Republic of Macedonia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist Republic of Macedonia and it was an entirely different city from the one you can visit today. A lot of people are surprised when they find out about a special place, they had no idea existed in their town, before they were born… especially the younger generations. So, I thought maybe I can revive these memories with the help of AI and the fantastic images of Yugoslavian Visuals as a reference. Some other cities are featured as well. So, yes, all of the videos included in this post are AI-generated . Setup There are plenty of tools you can use these days, but I decided to work with ComfyUI https://comfy.org/ and try out the MiniMax H3 https://www.minimax.io/blog/minimax-h3 large language model, via the existing video generation templates. The results were remarkable I created these videos on an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070Ti with 16GB RAM . Aside from the electricity costs, these videos were produced basically for free by using open weight LLM models and not by paying to big corporations. Having open models will continue to have a great importance as the AI technology develops further. The Revivals It all started with a beautiful shot of Boulevard Partizanski Odredi https://x.com/YugoslavVisuals/status/2090009528297263151 while Skopje was being re-built after the earthquake. Then came the Old Bazaar https://x.com/YugoslavVisuals/status/2096267115942608994 top-view shot in the 1970s. What is being built as the department store “Most” in the background on the first shot, can be seen completed in another one, from the other Old Bazaar https://x.com/YugoslavVisuals/status/2063576717130604589 entrance. During the 1960s, the Macedonia Square https://x.com/YugoslavVisuals/status/2099846725963817313 in Skopje looked very different from today https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedonia Square, Skopje . So did the Telecommunication Centre and Central Post Office in Skopje https://x.com/YugoslavVisuals/status/2099181986229178827 in 1980s. This distinctive building was an integral element of Kenzo Tange’s plan for reconstruction of Skopje after the earthquake in 1963 and one of the world’s most popular Brutalist buildings https://www.sosbrutalism.org/cms/15892529 . Of course, we are not going to miss the Cultural Center Dom na Kulturata https://x.com/YugoslavVisuals/status/2099155703344591016 in the city of Bitola during the 1980s… Still an important place in Bitola. It hosts almost all big events in the city. Or this beautiful night shot of the Skopje Railway Station in 1985 https://x.com/YugoslavVisuals/status/2099427489684623576 … Or this other shot in Skopje, at a key corner within the Gradski Trgovski Centar shopping mall https://x.com/YugoslavVisuals/status/2099515628935663965 in the 1970s. The unforgettable city of Ohrid https://x.com/YugoslavVisuals/status/2098397180687978512 looked and felt different during the 1980s. More rustic, less urban. Anyone up for a traditional carpet from the open market in the city of Struga https://x.com/YugoslavVisuals/status/2080639140819824686 , during the 1980s? The Makedonium https://x.com/YugoslavVisuals/status/2076381077271101744 or Ilinden <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilinden memorial monument in Krushevo, is yet another remarkable place in Macedonia, as seen below during the 1980s. And finally, we end our little time-travel adventure back in Skopje, to a beautiful 100% cyberpunk night shot of new residential buildings https://x.com/YugoslavVisuals/status/2053522256609841309 next to the riverside of Vardar in the 1970s. Now What? None of these videos are perfect. In fact, there are many, easily noticeable mistakes that look strange and often, funny, but they are far from AI-slop . I am born in the 1980s and I’ve personally experienced almost all of these places at the time these photos were taken. What was mind-blowing to me is how easy it was to recreate almost the original look and feel from just a single low quality image. In my head, this capability resonates in many different ways . I mean, it’s not very hard to create a short film that is taking place in that cyberpunk Skopje. How about a video game based on the same single image reference? A photo of a loved one converted into an interactive hologram? All hype aside, this is a remarkable time in history and I’m happy to be able to witness it. This was a really fun weekend project Until next time…