Kosovo-Metohija

This province of Serbia under the administration of UN has been abundant with the monuments and cultural places, but the tension has been still living there. As a proof the violence of March 2004 that still bear the lot of misfortune: 17 destroyed orthodox churches and monasteries, hundreds of houses bunt, and especially about 30 dead. In Prizren, in the South of the province the manifestants have burnt all Serbian houses and destroyed the church Notre Dame of Ljeviska and the medieval monastery of Saint Archangels. The consequence of these repeated attacks against the orthodox cultural heritage has been that since 1999, the date of taking the control over this province by UN, 123 churches and monasteries had been partially or totally annihilated.

The KFOR with its 20,000 soldiers has been maintaining a relative stability on all territories, but could not face the violence eruptions and the hatred by the part of the extremist Albanian groups. The main towns and roads are safe because have been controlled by the impressive military and police forces. Pristina is for instance accessible to the individual travel, the problems if you want to visit an orthodox monastery far away from the main axes, the distance has been possible to be crossed by the combatants at the border between Serbia and Kosmet one should better address KFOR that would send an armed vehicle. Being once at the cultural you may move only in the perimeter installed by KFOR. That is why it has been preferred to organize a short stay – one or two days – away from Kursumlija for the centre and the West of the province of Kosmet and away from Montenegro for the West of the province.