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87-619: Kabash Mountain is one of the protected areas of the Sharr Mountains designated as lands reserved for touristic development and sports/recreational activities, as well as grazing pastures and private properties for the local community that is located near the villages that border the National Park. Kabash Mountain is home to several different species of fauna, notably the European badger . This Kosovo location article

174-700: A nose on an Albanian up there!' Not a pretty sight for a British officer." Eventually Durham visited a northern Albanian outpost in Kosovo where she met captured Ottoman soldiers whose upper lips and noses had been cut off. After the First Balkan War of 1912, the Conference of Ambassadors in London allowed the creation of the state of Albania and handed Kosovo to the Kingdom of Serbia , even though

261-542: A 1348 chrysobull of Stefan Dušan that lists those who pray at the monastery of St. Michael and Gabriel in Prizren as well as some of the inhabitants of the city itself and the surrounding villages. In one of Stefan Dušan's documents in 1355, a soldier with Albanian anthroponomy is exclusively mentioned as one of the people who must continuously pay the Monastery of St. Nicholas in the village of Billushë near Prizren. In

348-480: A dominant feature in the town. The name of the city has been linked with that of Petrizen, a Dardani fort mentioned by Procopius in the 6th century. Hamp has suggested that the name of the city roughly meant " ford-horned animal " with the IE root *ḱrn "horn, horned-thing" (cf. Oxford ). According to Curtis, Prizren follows Albanian phonetic sound rules. Prizren has been traditionally identified with Theranda,

435-441: A lack of structural capacity to grow. Education is poor, financial institutions basic, and regulatory institutions lack experience. Securing capital investment from foreign entities cannot emerge in such an environment. Due to financial hardships, several companies and factories have closed and others are reducing personnel. This general economic downturn contributes directly to the growing rate of unemployment and poverty , making

522-564: A major 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 . It was an important part of Kosovo Vilayet between 1877 and 1912. During the late 19th century, the city became a focal point for Albanian nationalism and in 1878, it

609-492: 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." The town of Prizren did not suffer much during the Kosovo War but its surrounding municipality was badly affected during 1998–1999. Before

696-495: A revenge for the crimes committed during the war from the Serbian army and all remaining Serb population was evicted from Prizren. Simultaneously Islamic cultural heritage and mosques were destroyed and damaged. The municipality of Prizren is still the most culturally and ethnically heterogeneous city of Kosovo, retaining communities of Bosniaks , Turks , and Romani in addition to the majority Kosovo Albanian population. Only

783-485: A small number of Kosovo Serbs remain in Prizren and its surrounds; residing mainly in small villages. Prizren's Turkish community is socially prominent and influential, and the Turkish language is widely spoken even by non-ethnic Turks. Prizren is located on the foothills of the Šar Mountains ( Albanian : Malet e Sharrit ) in southern Kosovo on the banks of Prizren River . Prizren Municipality borders Albania to

870-650: A total area of 1,600 km . 56,25% of that area is in North Macedonia, 43.12% in Kosovo, and 0,63% in Albania. There are three plains: Sirinić, Vraca and Rudoka. The system is about 80 km (50 mi) long and 10–20 km (6–12 mi) wide. The mountain massif was formed in the Tertiary Period . The peaks are covered with ice and snow. It includes several high peaks: There are 30 peaks higher than 2,500 m (8,200 ft) and 70 above

957-620: A town dating from the Roman Empire . However, recent research suggests that Therand may have been located at present-day Suva Reka . Archaeological research has shown that the site of the Prizren Fortress has had several eras of habitation since prehistoric times. In its lower part, material from the upper part of the fort has been deposited over the centuries. It dates from the Middle Bronze Age (c. 2000 BCE) to

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1044-477: Is twinned with: Turkey and Hungary have also a general consulate in Prizren. For a long time the economy of Kosovo was based on the retail industry fueled by remittance income coming from a large number of immigrant communities in Western Europe . Private enterprise, mostly small business, is slowly emerging. Private businesses, like elsewhere in Kosovo, predominantly face difficulties because of

1131-645: Is August with an average temperature of 22.2 °C (72.0 °F), while the coldest month is January with an average temperature of 0.0 °C (32.0 °F). Prizren is a municipality governed by a mayor–council system . The mayor of Prizren with the members of the Prizren Municipal Council are responsible for the administration of Prizren Municipality. The municipality is encompassed in Prizren District and consists of 76 adjacent settlements with Prizren as its seat. Prizren

1218-776: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Sharr Mountains District of Prizren – Kosovo The Šar Mountains ( Serbian : Шар-планина / Šar-planina , Macedonian : Шар Планина , romanized :  Šar Planina ; colloquially also Šara , Cyrillic : Шара ) or Sharr Mountains ( Albanian : Malet e Sharrit ) is a mountain range in Southeast Europe , extending into several countries from southern Kosovo , to northwestern North Macedonia , to northeastern Albania . The sections in Kosovo, and in North Macedonia are national parks ( Sharr Mountains National Park in Kosovo). Rugged and barren,

1305-505: Is also a public university in Prizren, offering lectures in Albanian, Bosnian, and Turkish. The primary health care system includes 14 municipal family health centres and 26 health houses. The primary health sector has 475 employees, including doctors, nurses and support staff, 264 female and 211 male. Regional hospital in Prizren offers services to approximately 250,000 residents. The hospital employs 778 workers, including 155 doctors, and

1392-531: Is among the most densely populated municipalities of Kosovo. In terms of ethnicity, Prizren Municipality was 81.96% Albanian , 9.5% Bosniak , 5.11% Turkish , 1.63% Romani , 0.76% Ashkali , 0.37% Gorani , 0.13% Serbian , 0.09% Egyptian and 0.45% of other ethnicities or refugees (such as Afghans , Syrians , Ukrainians and others). By religion, there were 170,640 (95.98%) Muslims , 5,999 (3.37%) Roman Catholics , 250 (0.14%) Orthodox , 807 (0.45%) of other religions and 85 (0.05%) irreligious . Besides

1479-568: Is equipped with emergency and intensive care units. As of the Kosovo Agency of Statistics (KAS) estimate from the 2011 census, there were 177,781 people residing in Prizren Municipality, representing the second most populous city and municipality of Kosovo. Its urban population was approximately 94,500, while the rural population was around 83,000. With a population density of 283,5 people per square kilometre, Prizren

1566-407: Is expected to further strain the local economy. Market saturation, high unemployment, and a reduction of financial remittances from abroad are negative economic indicators. There are three agricultural co-operatives in three villages. Most livestock breeding and agricultural production are private, informal, and small-scale. There are nine operational banks with branches in Prizren, ProCredit Bank ,

1653-545: Is inhabited by 175 strictly protected plant species, 247 Balkan endemites and 18 plants which can be found only on Šara. The park includes the endemic relict Macedonian Pine and white-bark pine , as well as the mugo pine and Alpine rose . Other perennial plants include King Alexander's yarrow ( Achillea alexandri-regis ), Nikolić's silene ( Heliosperma nikolicii ), Bornmuellera dieckii , Šar carnation ( Dianthus scardicus Wettst. ), Doerfler's cinquefoils and Macedonian meadow saffron ( Colhicum macedonicum ). One of

1740-547: Is located north-east of the mountains. The mountain range in Kosovo is divided into three main zones: The zone of Ljuboten and Brezovica , the central zone of Prizren and the zone of Opoja and Gora . The mountains border the Kosovo Plain to the north-east and the Metohia Valley in the northwest. Kosovo consists of the most eastern tip and the most northern part of the mountain ridge. The Ljuboten peak and

1827-579: Is located on the banks of the Prizren River between the foothills of the Sharr Mountains in southern Kosovo. Prizren experiences a continental climate with some mediterranean influences. Prizren is constitutionally designated as the historical capital of the country. Archaeological excavations in Prizren Fortress indicate that its fortress area has seen habitation and use since the Bronze Age . Prizren has been traditionally identified with

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1914-712: Is part of a series of forts that were built or reconstructed in the same period by Justinian along the White Drin in northern Albania and western Kosovo in the routes that linked the coastal areas with the Kosovo valley . At this time, the Prizren fortress likely appears in historical record as Petrizen in the 6th century CE in the work of Procopius as one of the fortifications which Justinian commissioned to be reconstructed in Dardania . Konstantin Jireček concluded, from

2001-540: Is the last Byzantine archbishop of Ohrid to include Prizren in his jurisdiction until 1219. Stefan Nemanja had seized the surrounding area along the White Drin between the 1180s and 1190s, but this may refer to the areas Prizren diocese rather than the fort and the settlement itself and he may have lost control of them later. The ecclesiastical split of Prizren from the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1219

2088-523: The Church of Holy Salvation , Church of St. George (the city's largest church), Church of St. George (Runjevac), Church of St. Kyriaki, Church of St. Nicolas (Tutić Church), the Monastery of The Holy Archangels , as well as Prizren's Orthodox seminary of Saint Cyrillus and Methodius. Also, during that riot, the entire Serb quarter of Prizren, near the Prizren Fortress , was completely destroyed, as

2175-575: The Illyrian vocalism /a/ ). The theory according to which the modern Sharr/Šar represents an evolution of the ancient name Scardus through Albanian sound changes is untenable on the basis of current historical-linguistic research. Sharr/Šar rather can be traced to Albanian : sharrë meaning 'saw', denoting the jagged peaks and 'saw-toothed ridge', ultimately from Latin : sĕrra (also used in some Romance languages : cf. Italian : serra , Spanish : sierra , 'steep mountain range'). In

2262-554: The Mavrovo Valley . There the Radika river separates the mountain massif from the higher Mount Korab . After that, the border is mounting, reaching the point of junction of three state borders: Kosovo , North Macedonia and Albania . The border now follows the road to the small, mountainous, town of Restelica , the rivers of Globocica, Plava and the White Drin and finally reaches the city of Prizren. The Šar Mountains have

2349-699: The People's Republic of Serbia , a constituent state of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia . 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

2436-631: The Prizren Fortress , are located in the gorge of the Bistrica river. When King Milutin donated lands to the Our Lady of Ljeviš church, he also donated the Višegrad Fort to serve as an Prizren's defence outpost. Emperor Dušan later expanded the fort to the river and built his endowment, the Monastery of the Holy Archangels . There are 45 Serbian Orthodox monasteries on the slopes of

2523-727: The Raiffeisen Bank , the NLB Bank , TEB Bank , Banka për Biznes (Bank for Business), İşbank , Banka Kombëtare Tregtare (National Trade Bank), Iutecredit, and the Payment and Banking Authority of Kosovo (BPK). All the main roads connecting the major villages with the urban centre are asphalted. The water supply is functional in Prizren town and in approximately 30 villages. There are 48 primary schools with 28,205 pupils and 1,599 teachers; 6 secondary schools with 9,608 students and 503 teachers; kindergartens are privately run. There

2610-466: The 2,000 m (6,600 ft). The Šar Mountains extend to Mount Korab (2,764 m or 9,068 ft) in the southwest, and pass into northeastern Albania with very small part (0.63% of the entire length). Vegetation on the mountains includes crops up to around 1,000 m (3,281 ft), forests up to 1,700 m (5,577 ft), and above that lie high pastures which encompass around 550 km (212 sq mi). The Šar Mountains are

2697-632: The 2010s a floor mosaic was discovered from the much older church from the Byzantine period. The Šar Mountains are located in the south and south-east of Kosovo , where 43.12% of the range is located. Many alpine and glacial mountain lakes are found on the Kosovar part of the Šar Mountains, especially south of the town of Dragash , the area of Shutman and the region north of Vraca. The Brezovica ski resort , with an elevation of 900 m (2,953 ft) to 2,524 m (8,281 ft) above sea level,

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2784-526: The 7th century BC, but also has medieval remnants. In Roman period, the mountain was a tripoint between the provinces of Dalmatia , Moesia and Macedonia . The route of an ancient road crossed the Scardus from 169 BC. The road was later named Velji ("Great") or Prizren road. Lisinski road was built. Remnants of the fort on the Kradište hill, near Prizren, dates from the 2nd to the 6th century and testifies

2871-608: The Austrian-Ottoman wars, the local Albanian population in the Prizren region rallied to support the Austrians against the Ottomans under the leadership of the Albanian priest Pjeter Bogdani . Documents and dispatches refer to the Austrians marching to "Prizren, the capital of Albania " where they were welcomed by Bogdani and 5,000-6,000 Albanian soldiers. The Albanian Catholic priest Toma Raspasani wrote that, once

2958-493: The Austrians had been expelled and Prizren was firmly in the hands of the Ottomans yet again, nobody was able to leave Prizren. In 1693, Toma also wrote that many of the Catholics in Kosovo had gone to Hungary where most of them died of hunger or disease. Prizren was the cultural and intellectual centre of Ottoman Kosovo. It was dominated by its Muslim population, who composed over 70% of its population in 1857. The city became

3045-630: The Crusaders to fight the Ottomans. On 21 June 1455, Prizren surrendered to the Ottoman army. Prizren was the capital of the Sanjak of Prizren , and under new administrative organization of Ottoman Empire it became capital of the Vilayet . Later, it became part of the larger Rumelia Eyalet . It was a prosperous trade city, benefiting from its position on the north-south and east-west trade routes across

3132-648: The Empire. Prizren became one of the larger cities of the Kosovo vilayet ( vilayet ). The Ottoman registers from the 15th-16th century indicate that the villages in the Prizren- Has region in Kosovo had a significant Albanian population. In the Ottoman Defter of 1591, the city of Prizren itself was recorded under the Sanjak of Prizren - this includes the household heads of the city. By this time, Prizren had been significantly Islamised, as reflected by

3219-525: The Opoja and Gora region contains 600 chamois. The National Park is administered by the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning (MESP) of Kosovo. Prizren Prizren ( Albanian definite form : Prizreni , pronounced [pɾizˈɾɛni] ; Serbian Cyrillic : Призрен ) is the second most populous city and municipality of Kosovo and seat of the eponymous municipality and district . It

3306-531: The Serbian Tsar Stefan Dušan that was given to the Monastery of Saint Mihail and Gavril in Prizren between the years of 1348-1353 states the presence of Albanians in the vicinity of Prizren, the Dukagjin Plain and in the villages of Drenica . Within this chrisobull, nine Albanian stock-breeding villages within the vicinity of Prizren are mentioned explicitly - these villages are known with

3393-721: The Ukrainian newspaper Kijewskaja mysl , and reports eventually emerged of widespread killings of Albanians. In a 1912 news report on the Serbian Army and the Paramilitary Chetniks in Prizren, Trotsky stated "Among them were intellectuals, men of ideas, nationalist zealots, but these were isolated individuals. The rest were just thugs, robbers who had joined the army for the sake of loot... The Serbs in Old Serbia , in their national endeavour to correct data in

3480-590: The West in neighbouring Albania; there was however notable resistance in Prizren before Yugoslavia unconditionally surrendered on 19 April 1941. Prizren along with most of Kosovo was annexed to the Italian puppet state of Albania . Soon after the Italian occupation, the Albanian Fascist Party established a blackshirt battalion in Prizren, but plans to establish two more battalions were dropped due to

3567-493: The anthroponomy of the inhabitants; several cases of Muslim inhabitants with mixtures of Muslim and Albanian anthroponomy exist (i.e. Ali Gjoci, Hasan Gjinaj, Ferhad Reçi, Hasan Bardi... ). The Muslim neighbourhoods ( Mahalla/Mëhalla ) consisted of Xhamia e Vjetër (Old Mosque, 53 homes), Levisha (50 homes), Ajas beu (15 homes), Haxhi Kasem (48 homes), Jazixhi Sinani (71 homes), Çarshia (also called Jakub beu, 18 homes), Kurila (31 homes) and Mëhalla e lëkurëpunuesve (neighbourhood of

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3654-637: The area of Montenegro and possibly the town of Ulqin . Present-day Prizren is first mentioned in 1019 at the time of Basil II (r. 976–1025) in the form of Prisdriana . In 1072, the leaders of the Bulgarian Uprising of Georgi Voiteh traveled from their center in Skopje to the area of Prizren and held a meeting in which they invited Mihailo Vojislavljević of Duklja to send them assistance. Mihailo sent his son, Constantine Bodin , and 300 of his soldiers. Dalassenos Doukas, dux of Bulgaria

3741-454: The area of Prizren, Albanian toponyms were recorded in the 14th and 15th century such as Rudina e Leshit, Truallishta e Gjon Bardhit, Llazi i Tanushit, Truallishta e Komanit, Shpija e Bushatit, Zhur, and Mazrek. With the death of Stefan Uroš V in 1371, a series of competing regional nobles sieged, counter-sieged and held control of Prizren – increasingly with Ottoman support and intervention. The first who tried to gain control of Prizren and

3828-717: The area was inhabited by Albanians and that the Albanian language was spoken there. In the 1630's, the Ottoman Turkish traveller Hajji Khalifa wrote that the town of Prizren was inhabited by Albanians. In 1651, the Albanian Catholic priest of Prizren Gregor Mazrreku reported that many men within Prizen converted to Islam to avoid the Jizya tax, and that they would ask Gregor to give them confession and Holy Communion in secrecy, which he had refused to do. During

3915-501: The area; 14th-century documents refer to a catholic church in Prizren, which was the seat of a bishopric between the 1330s and 1380s. After several years of attack and counterattack, the Ottomans made a major invasion of Kosovo in 1454; Attempts of liberating the Prizren area earlier by Skanderbeg and thereafter by John Hunyadi failed, as Đurađ Branković was an Ottoman vassal at this time and did not grant passage into Kosovo for

4002-634: The capital of Sanjak of Prizren in the Ottoman Empire . While standing as an important administrative city for the Ottomans, Prizren became an important political center for the Albanian National Awakening during the late 19th century. The influence of Islam in Kosovo is evident; 96% of the population identified as Muslim in the most recent census, taken in 2011. Mosques, such as the Sinan Pasha Mosque , are

4089-423: The change of civilizations in this region: it started in the pre-Roman period, then became a Roman town and later a Byzantine one. Locality of Ravna Gora, predating the 6th century, where Slavs later cremated their dead, is situated in the area. Medieval military complex of Petrič Fortress , which consists of two fortresses, Little Petrič and Great Petrič, is also preserved. Remains of the Višegrad Fort, older part of

4176-656: The city compared to other cities in Kosovo. Serbian forces destroyed an important Albanian cultural monument in Prizren, the League of Prizren building, but the complex was rebuilt later on and now constitutes the Albanian League of Prizren Museum. On 17 March 2004, during the Unrest in Kosovo some Serb cultural monuments in Prizren were damaged, burned or destroyed, including Orthodox Serb churches, such as Our Lady of Ljeviš from 1307 ( UNESCO World Heritage Site ),

4263-468: The city itself, or in villages around. Such locations include Sredska , Mamushë , and the region of Gora . Much of Potkaljaja, the old Serb neighbourhood along the hillside in the centre of town, was looted and burned to the ground following the Yugoslav Army withdrawal. Since 2010 most of the neighbourhood has been rebuilt. The war and its aftermath caused only a moderate amount of damage to

4350-673: The correspondence of archbishop Demetrios Chomatenos (1216–36), that Prizren was the northeasternmost area of Albanian settlement prior to the Slavic migrations to the Balkans that began in the 6th century. Historians and linguists have concluded that the northernmost and easternmost expansion of the predecessors of the Albanians prior to Slavic expansion was Lipjan , Vushtrri , Shkup , Nish , Shtip in Dardania and Macedonia and included

4437-421: The early 16th century, it was recorded that the mountain was called " Catena Mundi " ( Latin for "the chains of the world"). Sometimes the range is called " Carska Planina " ( Cyrillic : Царска Планина , " Tsar 's Mountain"), as a reference to the capitals ( Prizren and Skopje ), courts (Nerodimlje, Pauni, Svrčin , etc.) and monasteries ( monastery of the Holy Archangels ) of the Serbian Empire located in

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4524-533: The economic viability in the region more tenuous. Many restaurants, private retail stores, and service-related businesses operate out of small shops. Larger grocery and department stores have recently opened. In town, there are eight sizeable markets, including three produce markets, one car market, one cattle market, and three personal hygiene and houseware markets. There is an abundance of kiosks selling small goods. However, reducing international presence and repatriation of refugees and internally displaced persons

4611-433: The end of the war in June 1999, most of the Albanian population returned to Prizren. Serbian and Roma minorities fled, with the OSCE estimating that 97% of Serbs and 60% of Romani had left Prizren by October. The community is now predominantly ethnically Albanian, but other minorities such as Turkish, Ashkali (a minority declaring itself as Albanian Roma) and Bosniak (including Torbesh community) live there as well, be that in

4698-443: The ethnographical statistics that are not quite favourable to them, are engaged quite simply in systematic extermination of the Muslim population". British traveller Edith Durham and a British military attaché were supposed to visit Prizren in October 1912, however the trip was prevented by the authorities. Durham stated: "I asked wounded Montengrins [Soldiers] why I was not allowed to go and they laughed and said 'We have not left

4785-436: The lack of public support. In 1943 Bedri Pejani of the German Wehrmacht helped create the Second League of Prizren . In 1944, German forces were driven out of Kosovo by a combined Russian-Bulgarian force, and then the Communist government of Yugoslavia took control. In 1946, the town was formulated as a part of Kosovo and Metohija which the Constitution defined the Autonomous Region of Kosovo and Metohija within

4872-401: The largest compact area covered with pastures on the European continent . The dog breed Šarplaninac comes from this area. The snowy peaks of the Šar Mountains are depicted on the coat of arms of the city of Skopje , which in turn is incorporated in the city's flag. The remains of the Široko complex are located near Mušutište . The complex originates from the period between the 10th and

4959-422: The late Iron Age (c. 1st century CE) and is comparable to the material found in the nearby prehistoric site in the village of Vlashnjë (~10 km west of Prizren). In 2005, prehistoric rock paintings in a ritual site related to the cycle of life were found near Vlashnjë. They represent the first find of prehistoric rock art in the region. In late antiquity, the fortification saw a phase of reconstruction. It

5046-520: The leatherworkers, 34 homes) . The Christian neighbourhoods ( Mahalla/Mëhalla ) consisted of Pazari i Vjetër (Old Market, 8 homes), Madhiq (37 homes), Vasil (27 homes), Kodha (13 homes), Çarshia/Pjetri Nikolla (14 homes), Bogoi Riber (11 homes), Radmir (51 homes), Jazixhi Sinani (mentioned beforehand, 24 homes), Pandelja (29 homes), Prend Vriça (9 homes) and Ajas (13 homes) . The neighbourhoods of Pandelja, Jazixhi Sinani and Kodha were dominated by inhabitants with characteristically Albanian anthroponomy;

5133-405: The local Albanian leaders to sign a declaration of gratitude to King Peter I of Serbia for their "liberation by the Serbian army". Following the capture of Prizren, most foreigners were barred from entering the city as the Montenegrin forces temporarily closed the city before full control was restored. A few visitors did make it through, including Leon Trotsky , then working as a journalist for

5220-399: The mountain of Skopska Crna Gora create the Kaçanik Gorge in Kosovo. The Šar Mountains are split from the Nerodimka Mountain by the Sirinić Valley. The Šar National Park is located in Kosovo . Villages and towns that are found near the mountain are: Lakes in the Kosovo part of the Šar Mountains are: In total, there are 70 glacial lakes on Šara. Sharr Mountains National Park is in

5307-410: The mountain, dating from the 12th to the 16th century. Additional 32 monasteries were damaged or demolished during the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999 and in the later years. Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God in the village of Gotovuša in Sirinićka Župa was built in 16th century. It was destroyed later and rebuilt in the second half of the 19th century. During the works in churchyard in

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5394-435: The mountains are among the highest in the Balkans, with 30 peaks higher than 2,500 m (8,202 ft). In antiquity , the mountains were known as Scardus , Scodrus , or Scordus (το Σκάρδον ὂρος in Polybius and Ptolemy ). It is considered of Indo-European origin (cf. Lithuanian : skardús 'steep'), and has been compared to the toponym Scardona and to the tribal name Scordisci (with Scardus featuring

5481-401: The names Gjinovci (Gjinajt), Magjerci, Bjellogllavci (Kryebardhët), Flokovci (Flokajt), Crnça, Caparci (Çaparajt), Gjonovci (Gjonajt), Shpinadinci (Shpinajt) and Novaci. Entire Albanian villages were gifted by Serbian kings, particularly Stefan Dušan , as presents to Serb monasteries within Prizren, Deçan and Tetova . Additionally, people with Albanian anthroponomy are repeatedly mentioned in

5568-542: The northwest sections of the mountain's main massif, including the highest peak, Bistra, an spreads over the sections of Prevalac, Ošljak, Ostrovica and Kodža Balkan. The park encompasses several different types of topographic relief : glacial ( cirques , moraines and glacial lakes ), periglacial (snow cirques, sliding blocks, "tundra mosaic" type of micro-shapes in the deposits of silt), karstic and fluvial . There are numerous rivers, springs, creeks, bogs and lakes. In total, there are 1,800 plant species. The mountain

5655-468: The other neighbourhoods saw a blend between predominantly Slavic/Slavic-Albanian (or rather, Orthodox) anthroponomy. Lazaro Soranzo, writing in the 16th century, noted the town was inhabited "more by Albanians then by Serbs". In 1624 Pjeter Mazrreku reported the town was inhabited by 12,000 Muslims, almost all of them Albanians (‘Turchi, quasi tutti Albanesi’), 200 Catholics and 600 'Serviani'. Gjergj Bardhi , during his visit in Prizren, wrote in 1638 that

5742-420: The outbreak of the First World War , the Kingdom of Serbia was invaded by Austro-Hungarian forces and later by Bulgarian forces. By 29 November 1915, Prizren fell to Bulgarian and Austro-Hungarian forces. In April 1916, Austria-Hungary allowed the Kingdom of Bulgaria to occupy the city with the understanding that a significant amount of the city's population were ethnic Bulgarians . During this period, there

5829-408: The population of Kosovo remained mostly Albanian. In 1913, an official Austro-Hungarian report recorded that 30,000 people had fled to Prizren from Bosnia . In January 1914 the Austro-Hungarian consul based in Prizren conducted a detailed report on living conditions in the city. The report stated that Kingdom of Serbia didn't keep its promise for equal treatment of Albanians and Muslims. Thirty of

5916-534: The rare habitats of Balkan lynx , the largest European cat. It is estimated that on the entire Balkans there are no more than 100 specimens. European pond turtle and Hermann's tortoise , only two European species of freshwater turtles, live on the mountain. There are 147 butterfly species (excluding moths), 45 amphibians and reptilians and 37 mammalian species. Other animals include bear , chamois , wolf , roe deer , wild boar and other species including many bird species. The national park contains 720 chamois while

6003-423: The region. In the medieval period, Serbs called the mountain " Mlečni " ( Cyrillic : Млечни ), because of the major milk production on the mountain and the vast herds of cattle, goats and sheep. In the golden bull issued by Emperor Dušan on 20 September 1349, he says: "I also bequest all of mine estates and areas around the Mlečni Mountain ("Milk Mountain"), the Durlev estates and all the metochions and all

6090-404: The relic species is Natalie's ramonda . It went extinct from the most of Europe during the last ice age and today grows as an endemic species in several gorges in Serbia, North Macedonia and Greece. It has been chosen as the Serbian symbol for the Armistice Day . Rusenica locality on the mountain has been in the first level of protection, as the strict reserve of nature, since 1955. It is one of

6177-404: 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 cause célèbre after it emerged that

6264-531: The settlement of Theranda in Roman Dardania , although other locations have been suggested in recent research. In late antiquity it was part of the defensive fortification system in western Dardania and the fort was reconstructed in the era of eastern Roman Emperor Justinian . Byzantine rule in the region ended definitively in 1219-20 as the Serbian Nemanjić dynasty took control of the fort and

6351-410: The southwest and North Macedonia to the southeast. Prizren has a subtropical climate ( Köppen climate classification Cfa) bordering a continental climate ( Köppen climate classification Dfa) in the 0°c isotherm and an oceanic climate ( Köppen climate classification Cfb) in the -3°c isotherm. with an average annual temperature of 11.8 °C (53.2 °F). The warmest month in Prizren

6438-516: The territory of Kosovo and covers 534.69 km (206 sq mi) on the northern slopes of the Šar Mountains as well as the mountains of Oshlak and Jezercë . The National Park "Šar-Planina Mt." was proclaimed in 1986 within the temporary boundaries of 390.00 km (150.58 sq mi), and opened in 1995. The final boundaries of the Park were expanded in 2012 to cover an area of 534.69 km (206.44 sq mi). The park occupies

6525-468: The thirty-two mosques in Prizren had been turned into hay barns, ammunition stores and military barracks. The people of the city were heavily taxed, with Muslims and Catholic Christians having to pay more tax than Orthodox Christians. The local government was predominately made up of former Serb Chetniks. The report also noted that the Serbs were also dissatisfied with the living conditions in Prizren. With

6612-660: The town. Prizren served as the capital of the Serbian Empire under the reign of Stefan Dušan , as it bloomed to become an important center of trade and commerce during Dušan's reign. From 1371, a series of regional feudal rulers controlled Prizren, including the Mrnjavčević family , the Balšić noble family , and the Branković dynasty . Ottoman Turks captured Prizren from Serbian Despotate in 1455 and almost immediately served as

6699-654: The trade that passed through the town was Prince Marko , but after his defeat in the Battle of Maritsa in September 1371, the Balšići of the Principality of Zeta moved to take Prizren in the fall and winter of 1371. In the spring of 1372, Nikola Altomanović besieged Prizren and tried to expand his rule, but was defeated. The death of Đurađ I Balšić in 1377 created another power vacuum – Đurađ Branković then took over Prizren. The Catholic Church retained some influence in

6786-546: The war, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe estimated that the municipality's population was about 78% Kosovo Albanian, 5% Serb and 17% from other national communities. During the war most of the Albanian population were either forced or intimidated into leaving the town. Tusus Neighborhood suffered the most. Some twenty-seven to thirty-four people were killed and over one hundred houses were burned. At

6873-780: The wealth and treasure of that region". The bull is kept in the Dubrovnik Archive . The mountain borders extend from the city of Prizren , following the two rivers of the Prizrenska Bistrica and the Lepenac . In the east, it passes by the town of Kaçanik through the Kaçanik Gorge and into North Macedonia via the Polog Valley . The border passes near the Vardar spring called Vrutok and enters near

6960-681: Was a process of forced Bulgarisation with many Serbs being interned ; Serbs suffered worse in Bulgarian occupied regions of Kosovo compared to Austrian occupied regions due to the Bulgarian defeat in the Second Balkan War and due to the long-standing rivalry between the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Serbian Orthodox Church . According to Catholic Archbishop of Skopje , Lazër Mjeda who

7047-429: Was buried in the Monastery of the Holy Archangels in Prizren. Prizen briefly served as the capital of the Serbian Empire and was a crossroad of important trade goods between Dubrovnik and Constantinople. In 1330, Serbian king Stefan Dečanski explicitly mentioned the presence of Albanians and the Albanian names of villages in Kosovo, in particular in the districts of Prizren and that of Skopje . A chrisobull of

7134-557: Was part of the İpek Detachment in the First Balkan War . During the First Balkan War , the city was invaded by the Serbian army and incorporated into the Kingdom of Serbia . Although the troops met little resistance, the takeover was bloody, with 400 people dead in the first few days; the local population would call the city "The Kingdom of Death." The Daily Chronicle reported on 12 November 1912 that 5,000 Albanians were slaughtered in Prizren. Serbian general Božidar Janković forced

7221-643: Was renamed in 1929 to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Prizren became a part of its Vardar Banovina . In World War II Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941 and by 9 April the Germans who had invaded Yugoslavia from the East with neighbouring Bulgaria as base were on the outskirts of Prizren and by 14 April Prizren had fallen to the Italians who had invaded Yugoslavia from

7308-464: Was sent against the combined forces, but was defeated near Prizren, which was then extensively plundered by the Serbian army. The Bulgarian magnates proclaimed Bodin "Emperor of the Bulgarians" after this initial victory. They were defeated by Nikephoros Bryennios in the area of northern Macedonia by the end of 1072. The area was raided by Serbian ruler Vukan in the 1090s. Demetrios Chomatenos

7395-584: Was taking refuge in Prizren at the time, roughly 1,000 people had died of hunger in 1917. In October 1918 following the fall of Macedonia to Allied Forces , the Serbian Army along with the French 11th colonial division and the Italian 35th Division pushed the Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian forces out of the city. By the end of 1918, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was formed. The Kingdom

7482-566: Was the final act of establishing Serbian Nemanjić rule in the town. Prizren and its fort were the administrative and economic center of the župa of Podrimlje (in Albanian, Podrima or Anadrini). The old town of Prizren developed below the fortress along the left bank of the Bistrica/Lumbardhi. Ragusan traders were stationed in the old town. Prizren over time became a trading hub and gateway for Ragusan trade towards eastern Kosovo and beyond. In this period, Stefan Dušan founded and

7569-657: Was the site of the creation of the League of Prizren , a movement formed to seek the national unification and autonomy of Albanians within the Ottoman Empire. The Young Turk Revolution was a step in the dissolving of the Ottoman empire that led to the Balkan Wars. The Third Army (Ottoman Empire) had a division in Prizren, the 30th Reserve Infantry Division ( Otuzuncu Pirzerin Redif Fırkası ). The Prizren attachment

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