UNMIK ON AIR

VISOKI DECANI MONASTERY

By Zoran CULAFIC & Valon SYLA

SLUG: On July 2, 2004 the UNESCO World Heritage Committee added the monastery of Visoki Decani near Pec/Peya to UNESCO's World Heritage List.

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On July 2, 2004 UNESCO, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural World Heritage Committee added the monastery of Visoki Decani near Pec/Peya to their World Heritage List.

It is the first cultural monument in the territory of Kosovo to be inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage list thus far.

Hello and welcome. This is UNMIK on Air.

The proposal to include the Visoki Decani Monastery on the World Heritage list was made by 8 UNESCO member states including China and Nigeria and was accepted by all 21 members of the UNESCO Committee.

UNMIK ON AIR visited Visoki Decani this week and talked to the monastery’s spokesperson, Father Sava.

Sava expressed hope that the cultural significance of the listing would be felt locally, adding that such an event could play an important role in teaching tolerance for Kosovo’s citizenry, regardless of ethnic origin.

“The decision to include Decani monastery in the World Heritage list is a very important event, and in a cultural society it would be of great importance, a great motivation for the local population and citizens to adopt a positive relation toward it. However, it is a big question whether it is going to be changed or not, having in mind the behavior of the majority community toward the Serbian churches and monasteries in recent memory. The important thing to be understood here is that one cannot expect to have a better future and European integration by behaving inappropriately toward something, which represents a World and European heritage.”

Visoki Decani Monastery - at the foot of the Cursed Mountains, in the western part of Kosovo - was built in the mid 14th century for the Serbian King Stefan – whose earthly remains are still entombed at the site.

Among UNESCO’s criterion for putting Decani on the Heritage list was the “exceptional synthesis of Byzantine and Western medieval traditions,” which religious scholars point out represents the last important phase of Eastern Byzantine-Romanesque architecture in the region.

Yet another criterion for the World Heritage listing is the well-preserved Byzantine paintings that cover nearly the entire interior of the church at Decani,

The Head of Kosovo’s Action Civic Initiative (KACI) - Ilber Hysa - stresses that Kosovans of all ethnicities should understand that cultural and historical monuments are Kosovo’s heritage.

Hysa says everyone in Kosovo should learn from earlier generations Kosovans who, for centuries, helped to preserve and protect orthodox churches:

“Kosovars in the absolute majority should understand the importance that cultural heritage plays in it’s debt to younger generations to come. In short, the saving of the region’s cultural heritage for Kosovars means the saving of their own identity. Some churches that were damaged are from the new century and they can be rebuilt and restored, but the damage is much greater in the political sense for Kosovo. Some of the churches, especially those in Prizren as Levushka, had some of their Icons destroyed, and the church of Saint Salvatore (Spase) are the religious sites that suffered the most. These are medieval churches of great value and the damages suffered are irreparable”

The recent March riots in Kosovo left as many as 30 Serb Orthodox churches burned down, destroyed or heavily damaged, a fact that was strongly and unambiguously condemned in almost all key international political circles.

Strong condemnation also came from Kosovo’s political leaders, as well as from many Kosovo Albanian intellectuals. The clear massage: intolerance toward other cultures is unacceptable in a democratic society.

The Kosovo Ministry Of Culture has undertaken the assessment of damages to holy sites in the region. Even so, Minister of Culture Behxhet Brajshori says the Ministry has to juggle many priorities:

”Currently we are in the period repairing the damages done to the inhabiting objects. It is important to say that the dynamic of work has been set, and we evaluated that the inhabiting objects will be finished by late September of this year, the religious objects will be left for a later phase”

The rebuilding of churches is expected to start early next year.

According to Minister Brajshori, plans are in the making to cooperate with the Serbian Orthodox church when implementing restoration efforts of the holy sites.

Fortunately, Visoki Decani monastery was not damaged during the March riots and does not need that kind of help from Kosovo Government. But father Sava says that cooperating with Kosovo’s central and local institutions as well as with international institutions is an absolute necessity.

Father Sava emphasizes the long-term preservation of cultural sites like Decani as the ultimate issue:

“It must be done in cooperation with UNMIK, with the local administration and with Kosovo Institutions, but first of all – with the international community, because, it is a very important issue. We sincerely hope that this will be an opportunity for the local municipal administration to show their good will and respect toward something that represents a definite thing of value for the municipality. And it should not be looked at through ethnic or religious lenses at all. This is something of cultural value and heritage that belongs to all, to Albanians, to Serbs … to Christians and to Muslims … to all the world.”

And with this we end todays program, thanks for listening us and stay tuned.