What is "antiquization"

In the Macedonian context “antiquization” ( Macedonian: "антиквизација", "Antikvizatzija") is a term used mainly to critically describe the identity policies conducted by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE), the leading party of the government of the Republic of Macedonia. “In the contemporary Macedonian discourse “antiquization” refers to the identitarian policies based on the assumption that there is a direct link between today’s ethnic Macedonians and Ancient Macedonians”. The recent politics of history therefore not only embrace the recollection of the alleged ancient heritage of the Macedonians – i.e. the heritage of Philip II and his son Alexander the Great - but also seek to depict a coherent continuity of history from the ancient Kingdom of Macedon until the modern Republic of Macedonia, in order to reveal the uniqueness of the modern Macedonians and their country. This continuous and supposedly linear historiography includes the assertion that the modern ethnic Macedonians are direct descendants of the Ancient Macedonians. The expression “antiquization” originates from the history of arts and describes “the Renaissance practice of giving a city the appearance of ancient Rome or Athens through the introduction of structures organized in the classical mode”. While critics use the term “antiquization” in order to reveal “a state-framed set of actions such as direct interventions in the public space and in the public sphere of society in general", proponents of the government’s politics regard the term “antiquization” as an invention and neologism that is used as a part of anti-Macedonian propaganda.