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ENDANGERED HERITAGE IN PICTURESQUE PRIZREN
2010-07-21
Much debated Kosovo is rich in cultural heritage. According to some, it is Europe’s youngest country but according to others, it is just another break-away province, like South Ossetia or Transnistria. But for heritage addicts and Balkanophiles it is one of the most interesting area’s in Southeastern Europe.
Most of Kosovo’s heritage can be found in the picturesque south. The southern part of the country is surrounded by amazing steep hills, which are covered in snow almost all year around. When one approaches the city of Prizren, coming from the main road to Pristina, the countryside almost seems sleepy. It is easy to forget the tense situation between various ethnicities in this historically multicultural region.
The Orthodox churches and old mosques in downtown Prizren immediately catch the eye of anyone wandering around the city’s picturesque center. The city center is dominated by the Mustafa Pasha mosque, built in 1615 by the city’s former ruler, Sinan Pasha. Across the square is the Orthodox saint George’s cathedral. The building process of this church started in 1856 and was funded by Serbian merchants in Prizren. The church possessed fresco paintings from Debar, books and old icons. The cathedral was heavily targeted during the 1998-99 war and after. The cathedral dedicated to Virgin Mary, the Ljeviška cathedral, was built by the Serbian king Milutin in 1306. Several portraits of the kings of the Nemanja dynasty, Mliutin’s ancestors, were eyecatchers in the church. Nowadays the church is nothing more then a ruin surrounded by barbed wire and plaques of foreign donors founding the church’s reconstruction.
The Islamic architecture in Prizren mainly consists of old mosques and Turkish baths from the 16th and 17th century. The Gazi Mehmet Pasha or Bajrakali mosque is probably the prettiest in Prizren. It dates from 1566 and is decorated with wooden ornaments and blue and white paintings. Close to the Bajrakali mosque is the museum of the League of Prizren. This complex of buildings was reconstructed in late 1999, after being burned down by Serbian forces at the end of the Kosovo war.
It is a surreal sight to see every church guarded by a KFOR soldier. The heritage in Kosovo was severely damaged during and after the 1998-1999’s war. When the war was over in 1999, Prizren’s cultural monuments were once again targeted during riots in march 2004. After this event, the international community finally woke up and started to take measures to protect Kosovo’s heritage. Since then, KFOR soldiers are guarding heritage sights and the international community started investing in reconstruction programmes.
Due to Kosovo’s ambiguous and unsolved legal status, safeguarding heritage is a long and complicated process. Kosovo’s heritage is still used as an instrument for political strife between the Kosovar Albanian government in Pristina and the Serbian representation in Kosovska Mitrovica and Belgrade. Politicians from both sides are still eager to use heritage for their own political strategies in stead of taking measures to preserve the churches, monasteries, mosques and kulla’s for the future. Especially now, with the case on Kosovo’s independence being judged by the International Court of Justice in the Hague.
Nevertheless, the tide is turning: several local and international NGO’s are investing in the preservation of the heritage in Kosovo. UNESCO nominated several monuments for it’s world heritage list and is investing money for restoration. The Swedish NGO Cultural Heritage without Borders is reconstructing several churches in Prizren. Most of the work is done in cooperation with local architects and historians. Next to this, training courses and workshops dealing with heritage are organized to educate local Albanian architects and craftsmen. This is crucial, because the war caused a massive brain-drain of highly educated Serbian heritage experts. Hopefully these developments will put pressure on the Kosovo Albanian and Serbian representations to better safeguard their mutual heritage, for the sake of Kosovo and Europe.
Further reading:
o Abtahi, H. ‘The Protection of Cultural Property in Times of Armed Conflict: The Practice of the International Criminal Tribunal of the Former Yugoslavia’, in: Harvard Human Rights Journal, 1 (2001) 1-31.
o Francissen, J. Erfgoedbeleid in het naoorlogse Kosovo, een brug naar een gezamelijke toekomst? (Amsterdam 2009) http://www.alfredmozerstichting.nl/general/Thesis+Database/Erfgoedbeleid+in+het+naoorlogse+Kosovo.html
o Ordev, I, ‘Erasing the past: Destruction and Preservation of Cultural heritage in Former Yugoslavia, Part I’, in: Religion in Eastern Europe, 4 (2008).
o Ordev, I, ‘Erasing the past: Destruction and Preservation of Cultural heritage in Former Yugoslavia, Part II’, in: Religion in Eastern Europe, 1 (2009).
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