Peace Lab: Blog entry 16th of June, visit to Prizren

By Noé Petitjean

Today it is my turn to share  our day with you. I hope you are going to enjoy this read as much as you enjoyed the ones of the preceding posts. Today we had a day trip to the city of Prizren. Prizren is located in the southeast part of Kosovo, a few kilometers away from the Albanian border. Prizren has the looks of Provencal landscapes in France, with the particularity that now and then one can notice the minarets in the sky; testimonials of a rich  and diverse city, home to the Balkan’s cultural heritage.

According to the “Directorate of Tourism and Economic development” there are seven reasons to visit Prizren. Some I remembered are the cultural heritage and the architecture, festivals, the Sharr Mountains, the hospitality, and the (very) good food. The highlights of the day were the visit to the Sofi Sinan Pasha Mosque, the Saint George (Serb orthodox) Church, the fortress (named: Prizren Castle) and the visit to the historic “League of Prizren”.

The Sofi Sinan Pasha Mosque is one of the most important buildings in the city of Prizren. The Mosque was build in 1615 by an Ottoman official named Sinan Pasha. The Mosque was used as a warehouse for Bulgarian and Serbian armies during both Balkan Wars and the First World War. 

 

The Saint George Cathedral finished in the end of the 19^th Century. At the time the Orthodox community had to negotiate with the Ottoman authorities to build the church. The cathedral presents a very simple style with only a few religious icons compared to other Orthodox Churches where the walls are usually fully painted with religious fescoes. 

Then we visited the fortress and the League of Prizren. The League of Prizren was a significant historical event for Albanian nationalism. Visiting the historic location where the League was founded was a great way to give physical significance to our theoretical knowledge. 

We ended the day in a restaurant only a few hundred meters from the Albanian border. Dinner is one of the moments I cherish the most; it is the time of the day when we all gather and share our daily experiences around nice food. It helps to free the minds, reflect on the day and process the exciting new stories we have heard during the day from the local population. It is at dinner that I can gather my thoughts, and thanks to everyone’s experience complete my picture of Kosovo and its complexity in all the  possible and imaginable genres.