Photo: Macedonia's Ruling Party Builds Itself White Palace

Macedonia's ruling party has built itself a grandiose new headquarters in Skopje.

The new, richly ornamented nine-storey building with a gateway and adjacent tower, from which the party flag can be seen flying, draws its inspiration from the architectural styles of Classical Antiquity, the preferred style of the nationalist party, and of the government-funded revamp of the capital, "Skopje 2014".

The ruling party said its new headquarters have been built by a private investor who plans to use part of the complex as a hotel. The construction price has not been revealed.

The soaring new building is a far cry from the party's former HQ, a humble three-storey building known as the Yellow House, which stood at the same location and served as the party HQ for some two decades.

While the finances of the new building are still a complete mystery, the same cannot be said of its surroundings.

These have been generously revamped by the City of Skopje, which is run by the VMRO DPMNE party.

The city renamed the small square in front of the new building "VMRO square", after which it spent 1.3 million euro on a new marble pavement and a tall marble fountain where a bronze lion is soon to be placed. The yellow lion on a red shield is the symbol of the ruling party.

In addition, the city last year splashed public funds on giving the facades of the surrounding buildings a faux-baroque makeover, which has yet to be done.

The lavish and gleaming white appearance of the new and almost finished party HQ might be seen as embarrassing at a time when the party leadership is fending off claims that it is guilty of dark deeds.

The main opposition Social Democrats have in recent weeks released a series of recordings of...