UNMIK on AIR

“Reconstruction of Religious Sites”

By Andrea Saula

 

 

Hello and Welcome. This is UNMIK on AIR

 

Immediate intervention work is planned for the Serb religious sites damaged during the March riots. The Kosovo Government has provided the money and has helped to set up the Committee for Reconstruction. But, with winter approaching, doubt remains as to whether the work will actually be finished in time.

 

Sound of helicopter

 

“KFOR is allowed to use weapons” READS THE SIGN in front of the Orthodox medieval Monastery “St. Archangel” on the outskirts of Prizren in southern Kosovo.

 

St. Archangel’s Monastery, just like Holy Levis Church and St. George Church in Prizren was among the monuments damaged in the unrest some 6 months ago.

 

Benedict: “This used to be the kitchen. It was heavily damaged. You can see the ceiling and walls. This has to be torn down and rebuilt again. Here everything is ruined. Icons burned, the holy throne is broken, and all the furniture inside is burned.”

 

Father Benedict, describing the scene at the 14th century Serbian Orthodox Monastery, now being protecting by German peacekeepers.

As is the case with most of Kosovo’s monasteries and churches, St. Archangel was built on the spot of an earlier religious tradition and harkens back to an era of architecture known as the Raska school.

The Reconstruction Committee, which is responsible for the repair of this and other religious sites, met for the first time this August.

 

This Committee, made up of representatives of Kosovo’s Ministry of Culture, the Council of Europe, the Serbian Orthodox Church and Belgrade’s Institute for the Protection of Monuments is still planning what must be done.

 

Father Benedict: “That Committee plans to start construction works in September but I doubt this.”

UNMIK on AIR: “Did anybody come here to visit you?”

Father Benedict: “Yes, people from the Council of Europe came a couple of times.”

UNMIK on AIR: “What did they tell you? What is their judgment?

Father Benedict: that it should start in July.”

 

During the last week of August, when UNMIK on Air visited Father Benedict, there was little optimism that the pre-winter reconstruction would be completed in time.

 

Meanwhile, political representatives from the Kosovo Government are confident that the needed repairs would be dealt with – this as Status talks in mid 2005 are dependent on the fulfillment of the 8 Benchmark Standards.

 

Minister of Culture, Bexhet Brajshori spoke in front of UNMIK’s Prizren headquarters during a tour of the damaged religious sites in mid-August.

 

Brajshori: “The government of Kosovo has allocated the necessary fund for these activities but I think that the international community must help us in directing these funds. The institutions of Kosovo have shown their readiness to improve the trust between communities and I think that all the work that the government of Kosovo is doing should and must help this issue.”

 

Up and down Track 0.21 sounds of machines….

 

The sounds of volunteers organized to prepare the religious sites for proper seasonal protection. In many cases, work on the sites is taxing the already sparse amount of human and physical resources needed for the work.

 

At St. Archangel Monastery, people from nearby Serbian enclaves volunteer to help clean the site.  One electrician from nearby Strpce, some 25 kilometers from Prizren, spoke to UNMIK On-Air at the monastery construction site.

 

“Everyday somebody comes. We are organized. It was my turn today.” 

 

The Council of Europe released a report in May, which contained assessments for Kosovo’s damaged religious sites.

 

The Kosovo Government backs the idea that first priority must be given to repairing religious sites that include housing units - a position reinforced by Yelena Baldanova, the Coordination Officer with the Kosovo Ministry of Culture.

 

Baldanova asserts that enough money has been allocated for this immediate intervention work. 

 

Baldanova: “The Ministry of Culture is leading the reconstruction of the churches and Minister Breyshori in the cabinet meeting got the agreement of the Kosovo Government to allocate 3,7 million euros for the reconstruction of the cultural and religious sites damaged in the march riots. The SRSG has allocated an additional half of million euros for this immediate reconstruction works. The later reconstruction will be assessed and then they will propose another figure. Of course it will take more money.”

 

The Joint Reconstruction work is expected to accelerate as building specifications are completed and bids for construction contracts are announced by the Committee.

 

Following immediate reconstruction efforts, however, the real work begins – bringing back to life structures that, in some cases, were built seven centuries ago.

 

Charles Brayshaw, spoke in Prizren during his last day of duty as the acting Special Representative for the Secretary General.

 

Brayshaw: “It’s an honor for everyone in Kosovo to have monuments such as these and as well the Sinan Pasha Musk here in Prizren. I might say especially for Prizren, but there’s a special quality to life here in Prizren that comes from having so many important historic monuments so close to each other. So we want to make sure to restore that historic beauty to other people of Kosovo to enjoy and appreciate.”  

 

Few disagree that the religious sites in Kosovo represent the mutual heritage of Kosovans, but the repair of ethnic trust through the rebuilding of the damaged Serb religious sites is something that local analysts see as a much larger issue related to centuries of Balkan derision – and not something that can be repaired overnight.

 

 And this concludes this edition of UNMIK on-air. Thanks for listening and stay tuned.