Prizren Travel Guide

Prizren is a Historic town in Kosovo. It boasts beautiful Bridges, Forts, Mosques, Churchs and old Ottoman urban architecture. It is one of the most Beautiful towns in Kosovo.

History

The area of the Prizren valley has been settled by Illyrians  (ancestors of modern day Kosovar Albanians) since ancient times.

In Roman times, in the 2nd century A.D. it is mentioned with the name of Theranda in Ptolemy 's Geography . [ citation needed ] In the 5th century A.D. it is mentioned with the name of Petrizên by Procopius of Caesarea in De aedificiis (Book IV, Chapter 4). Sometimes it is mentioned even in relation to the Justiniana Prima . [ citation needed ]

According to Eric Hamp , the name of Prizren comes from pri , meaning "fortress, town", and Zeranda , a modification of the name Theranda , which gives Prizeranda . From that there is myrriad of different forms of the name Priserendi, Pyrserendi, Priserend, Prizeren, Pirzerin, Prizren etc.

From 830s the city and the whole region were included in the Bulgarian Empire . In 1018, after the fall of the First Bulgarian Empire under Tsar Samuel , the Byzantines created a Theme of Bulgaria , raising a Bulgarian Episcopate in Prizren.

A Bulgarian uprising arose in 1072 under Georgi Voiteh . Constantine Bodin of the House of Vojislavljević who was also son of Duklja 's Serbian King Mihailo Vojislav was dispatched by his father and Duke Petrilo with 300 best Serb soldiers to merge with Voiteh's forces in Prizren. There, Bodin was crowned Petar III, Tsar of the Bulgarians of the House of Comitopuli . The rebellion was crushed in months in 1073 and Eastern Roman rule restored.

In a war with the Crusaders against the Byzantine Empire, Serbian Duke Stefan Nemanja conquered Prizren in 1189, but after the defeat of 1191, had to give the city back to the Byzantines . The City was taken by the Bulgarian Empire in 1204, although, it was finally seized by Grand Prince Stefan II Nemanjić of Serbia in 1208 during a period of internal instability in Bulgaria under Boril .

During the reign of Emperor Stefan Dušan throughout the 14th century, Prizren had the Imperial Court and was the political center of the Serbian Empire . Serb Emperor Dušan raised the massive Monastery of Saint Archangel near the City in 1343-1352. In the vicinity of Prizren was Ribnik - a town where the two Serbian Emperors had their Courts. The city of Prizren became known as the Serbian Constantinople because of its trading and industrial importance. It was the centre of production of silk, fine trades and a colony of merchants from Kotor and Dubrovnik . In the 14th century Prizren was the seat of the Ragusan Consule for the entire Serb monarchy.

The city became a part of the domain of the House of Mrnjavčević under Serbian King Vukašin in the 1360s. With the final disintegration of the Serbian Empire, Zeta 's ruler Đurađ I of the House of Balšić dynasty took the City with the surroundings in 1372. The House of Branković under Vuk Branković then became the City's owners, under vassalage to the House of Lazarević that managed to reunite the former Serb Lands. Lazarevićs' founder, hero Prince Lazar was educated in Prizren. The dynasty would switch allegiances to the Ottoman Empire before returning under the Serbian Despot Stefan Lazarević , son of Lazar.

The Ottoman Empire soon took the city in 1545. Later it became a part of the Ottoman province of Rumelia . It was a prosperous trade city, benefiting from its position on the north-south and east-west trade routes across the Empire. Prizren became one of the larger cities of the Ottomans' Kosovo Province ( vilayet ).

Prizren was the cultural and intellectual centre of Ottoman Kosovo. It was dominated by its Muslim population, who comprised over 70% of its population in 1857. The city became the biggest Albanian cultural centre and the coordination political and cultural Capital of the Kosovar Albanians. In 1871, a long Serbian seminary was opened in Prizren, discussing the possible joining of the old Serbia's territories with the Principality of Serbia . During the late 19th century the city became a focal point for Albanian nationalism and saw the creation in 1878 of the League of Prizren , a movement formed to seek the national unification and liberation of Albanians within the Ottoman Empire.

During the First Balkan War the City was seized by the Serbian army and incorporated into the Kingdom of Serbia . Although the troops met little resistance, the takeover was bloody. The British traveler Edith Durham attempted to visit it shortly afterwards but was barred by the authorities, as were most other foreigners, for the Montenegrin forces temporarily closed the city before full control was restored. The number of killed Albanians reached 400 to 4000. A few visitors did make it through—including Leon Trotsky , then working as a journalist—and reports eventually emerged of widespread killings of Albanians. One of the most vivid accounts was provided by the Catholic Archbishop of Skopje , who wrote an impassioned dispatch to the Pope on the dire conditions in Prizren immediately after its capture by Serbia:

The city seems like the Kingdom of Death. They knock on the doors of the Albanian houses, take away the men, and shoot them immediately. In a few days the number of men killed reached 400. As for plunder, looting and rape, all that goes without saying; henceforth, everything is permitted against the Albanians, not merely permitted but willed and commanded. (quoted in the Irish Times , 5 May 1999 [3] )

With the invasion of the Kingdom of Serbia by Austro-Hungarian forces in 1915 during the First World War , the City was occupied by the Central Powers . The Serbian Army pushed the Central Powers out of the City in October 1918, restoring Montenegro's suzerainty . By the end of 1918, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was formed - with Prizren a part of its historical territorial entity of Serbia. The Kingdom was renamed in 1929 to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Prizren became a part of its Banate of Vardar . The Axis Italian and Albanian forces conquered the City in 1941 during World War II ; it was joined to the Italian puppet state of Albania. The Communists of Yugoslavia liberated it by 1944. It was formulated as a part of Kosovo and Metohija , under Democratic Serbia as a part of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia . The Constitution defined the Autonomous Region of Kos-met within the People's Republic of Serbia , a constituent state of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia . In 9-10 July 1945 the Regional Assembly of Kosovo and Metohija held in Prizren adopted the decision of abolishing the region's autonomy and direct integration into Serbia; although Tito vetoed this decision .

The Province was renamed to Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo in 1974, remaining part of the Socialist Republic of Serbia , but having attributions similar to a Socialist Republic within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia . The former status was restored in 1989, and officially in 1990.

For many years after the restoration of Serbian rule, Prizren and the region of Dečani to the west remained centres of Albanian nationalism. In 1956 the Yugoslav secret police put on trial in Prizren nine Kosovo Albanians accused of having been infiltrated into the country by the (hostile) Communist Albanian regime of Enver Hoxha . The "Prizren trial" became something of a c ause célèbre after it emerged that a number of leading Yugoslav Communists had allegedly had contacts with the accused. The nine accused were all convicted and sentenced to long prison sentences, but were released and declared innocent in 1968 with Kosovo's assembly declaring that the trial had been "staged and mendacious."

Attractions

The main attractions include of course the Kalaja of Prizren dating from the 11th century and built to protect Prizren from attacks. The Bajrakli Gazi Mehmet Pasha's mosque is the oldest monument of Islamic art in Prizren. The inscription above the entrance states it was built in 1561. A hexagonal mausoleum (medresa) has been built in the courtyard of the mosque which Mehmet Pasha earmarked as his grave.

Mehmet Pasha also built a Turkish bath in the town, which is built of cut stone and large bricks, in extremely harmonious proportions. The interior is divided into two parts: the baths for men and the baths for women.

Sinan Pasha's mosque, according to inscriptions. The enormous dome is fitted harmoniously into the square mass of the building. The interior of the mosque is decorated with geometrical designs, still life, and draperies, while the other parts of the walls are painted in strong light colors.

One of the oldest standing structures in Prizren is Shen Maria Levishka ( Kisha e Shën Premtes) . This church pre dates the arrival of the Slavs to the Balkans it was built by Illyrians (ancestors of moder day Kosovar Albanians). It was a Paleochristian building from IV-VI-IX-XIV. Under the Serbian Kingdom (14th century) the church was enlarged and converted to a Serbian Orthodox church. Under the Ottoman Empire the church was again converted to a Mosque (Xhuma Xhamia). During the Yugoslave period the church was converted back into a Serbian Orthodox church which it remians to to this day. In the 2004 March riots the church the partly damaged.

The League of Prizren is a 19th century building in which the Albanian nationlist movement was held. In 1999 the front part of the complex was burnt down. Its has been reconstructed and it is now a Musuem.