Kosovo Govt, European Heritage Network Argue Over Orthodox Monastery

Environment Minister Liburn Aliu said on Wednesday that the Kosovo authorities are "extremely concerned" about the inclusion of the Decani Monastery on the European cultural heritage organisation Europa Nostra's 'endangered sites' list.

A visit last week by a delegation from Europa Nostra, a federation that represents groups around Europe involved in safeguarding cultural heritage, has rekindled arguments over the medieval Serbian Orthodox monastery.

"The key issue discussed with various interlocutors [during the visit to Kosovo] was the inclusion of the 14th Century Serbian Orthodox Monastery of Visoki Decani on the 2021 List of Seven Most Endangered sites in Europe and the options to improve the situation," Europa Nostra said in a statement on Wednesday.

Europa Nostra argued that its concerns remain valid because "no final solution has yet been agreed by all parties" about a planned increase to traffic movement in the protected zone around the monastery, or about a riverside development project which "could negatively affect the natural environment of the monastery".

It also that a 2016 ruling by the Kosovo Constitutional Court confirming the Decani Monastery's ownership of 24 hectares of land has not yet been implemented through lawful registration of the Monastery's land, which "undermines the rule of law and the legal security of this living monastery with its surrounding land".

But Environment Minister Aliu told Kosovo's public broadcaster RTK that Europa Nostra's concerns are exaggerated.

Aliu criticised the decision to include the monastery on Europa Nostra's 'endangered sites' list, saying that claims that the site is "endangered by extremist elements related to religious radicalisation", including so-called...