Misplaced Pages

#429570

85-594: 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 the settlement of Theranda in Roman Dardania , although other locations have been suggested in recent research. In late antiquity it was part of

170-699: 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

255-541: 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

340-440: 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

425-746: A local bishop present at the Council of Serdica in 347CE and at the Ecumenic Synod of 553CE. Florus and Laurus were said to have settled in Ulpiana. The old Byzantine church in Lipjan serves as a reminder of the ecclesiastical importance the area once held - it continued to hold a bishopric seat in the Bulgarian empire and once again in the Byzantine empire once the region was recaptured. Lipjan

510-564: 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

595-491: 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

680-493: 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

765-475: 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 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

850-678: A series of regional feudal rulers came to control Prizren and its fort: the Balšić , the Dukagjini , the Hrebeljanović and finally the Branković , often with Ottoman support. The Ottoman Empire assumed direct control after 1450 and over time turned the fort into a central stronghold in the Eyalet of Rumelia . Much of the modern fortress dates to the 18th century reconstruction phase. The fortress

935-594: 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 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

SECTION 10

#1732772030430

1020-484: 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

1105-475: 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

1190-641: 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

1275-504: 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

1360-528: 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

1445-725: Is considered to have preceded the Slavic migrations in the region. The Roman city of Ulpiana was located near Lipjan and it was named in honor of the Roman Emperor Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus . In the early Middle Ages it was part of the Bulgarian Empire and a diocese of the Bulgarian Patriarchate . The neo- Latin form Lypenion for the city occurs for the first time in a Byzantine text from 1018 AD that confirmed

1530-565: 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

1615-406: 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 ,

1700-490: Is situated on a dominant hill at the eastern part of the town of Prizren, set on a strategic position, contoured with lines that follow distinguished features of the terrain's natural morphology. Archaeological excavations were carried out in 1969 and then again in 2004 and 2009–2011. They resulted in the discovery of the infrastructure, which incorporates rampart walls enforced with towers, casemates , labyrinth corridors, depots, and other accompanying inner rooms and dwellings. It

1785-467: Is the birthplace of the Albanian noble, Lekë Dukagjini , who was born here in 1410. He was a close friend of the Albanian military commander and ruler, Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg , and a participant in the Albanian League of Lezhë . He was a member of the Dukagjini family , whose principality extended from Northern Albania to modern-day Kosovo. Lipjan was the site of war crimes during

SECTION 20

#1732772030430

1870-537: 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

1955-575: 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 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

2040-517: 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

2125-693: The Drin valley and connected the Adriatic coastline with the central Balkans. In a nearby location, roughly 3 km to the southeast of the Prizren fortress, Stefan Dušan commissioned the building of the Monastery of the Holy Archangels and the Višegrad fort, which is also known as Dušanov grad . For a time, they were the fortifications of his court in Prizren before he moved it to Skopje . The város ( nënkalaja - old town) of Prizren developed around

2210-526: The Kolo in the evening. 42°12′34″N 20°44′44″E  /  42.20944°N 20.74556°E  / 42.20944; 20.74556 Lipjan Lipjan ( Albanian definite form : Lipjani ) or Lipljan ( Serbian Cyrillic : Липљан ) is a town and municipality located in the Pristina District of Kosovo . According to the 2011 census, the town of Lipjan has 6,870 inhabitants, while

2295-434: The Kosovo War . Ethnic Albanians were forced out of the area on April 20 by Serb forces, and Albanian residences were looted and burned by said forces. Serbian paramilitary forces were alleged to have shot more than 50 civilians in 3 surrounding villages. About 57,605 people live in the municipality of Lipjan, and of those about 6,870 people live in the town of Lipjan, while the rest live in rural areas (villages). Most of

2380-587: 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 the correspondence of archbishop Demetrios Chomatenos (1216–36), that Prizren was the northeasternmost area of Albanian settlement prior to

2465-699: 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

2550-725: 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

2635-587: 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 the area of Montenegro and possibly the town of Ulqin . Present-day Prizren is first mentioned in 1019 at

Prizren - Misplaced Pages Continue

2720-478: The 6th century. Prizren has been traditionally identified with Theranda, a town of the Roman era. Another location which may have been that of Theranda is present-day Suhareka Archaeological research has shown that the site of the fortress has passed 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

2805-548: 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

2890-491: 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

2975-459: The Bronze Age (c. 2000 BCE) to 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 . In late antiquity, the fortification saw a phase of reconstruction. It 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

3060-628: 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

3145-647: 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

3230-531: 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

3315-720: 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

3400-589: 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

3485-493: 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

Prizren - Misplaced Pages Continue

3570-453: 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

3655-713: 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

3740-501: 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

3825-653: 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 ),

3910-466: 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

3995-582: 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 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,

4080-531: 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

4165-535: 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

4250-442: 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

4335-508: The fortress. 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. Prizren became part of the Ottoman Empire after 1450 until the First Balkan War (1912). The present-day fortress is largely the product of Ottoman expansion and reconstruction in the 18th century. During the Ottoman occupation of Serbia, Serbs held social gatherings at several monumental places, such as Kaljaja, where they danced

SECTION 50

#1732772030430

4420-414: The fortress. The site of the fortress of Prizren has seen habitation and use since the Bronze Age (ca. 2000 BC). In late antiquity it was part of the defensive fortification system in western Dardania and 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 controlled the fort until 1371. Since 1371,

4505-433: 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

4590-400: The leaders of the Bulgarian Uprising of Georgi Voiteh traveled from their center in Skopje in 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 with 300 of his soldiers. Dalassenos Doukas, dux of Bulgaria was sent against the combined forced but was defeated near Prizren, which

4675-520: 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;

4760-403: 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

4845-412: The municipalities of Drenas , Kosovo Polje and Pristina to the north, Malisheva to the west, Novo Brdo and Gjilan to the east and Ferizaj , Suva Reka and Shtime to the south. The ancient predecessor of Lipjan, Ulpiana , was an important city in the Illyrian and Dardanian spheres. By the 2nd century CE, it was the economic, political and culture centre of the province of Dardania. It

4930-444: The municipality has 57,605 inhabitants. The town's name derives from Ulpiana , the Dardanian and Roman era settlement that preceded Lipjan, possibly due to either a Ul- to Li- shift seen elsewhere in Roman toponyms. Selami Pulaha states that the shift from Ulpiana to Lipjan is in accordance with early Albanian phonetic rules, and must therefore have been inhabited by Albanians to reach its current form. Lipjan (Lypenion)

5015-420: 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, 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

5100-400: 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

5185-465: 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

SECTION 60

#1732772030430

5270-418: 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

5355-406: 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

5440-403: 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

5525-423: 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 . Present-day Prizren is first mentioned in 1019 at the time of Basil II (r. 976–1025) in the form of Prisdriana .In 1072,

5610-460: 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 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

5695-408: 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

5780-431: The surrounding area along the White Drin in 1185–95 and the ecclesiastical split from the Patriarchate in 1219 was the final act of establishing 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). In the Middle Ages, the Prizren fortress was part of the fortifications of the Via de Zenta trade route which passed through

5865-415: 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

5950-399: 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

6035-482: The town as an episcopal seat of the Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid following the Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria in the same year. Lipjan is located in the central part of the Republic of Kosovo and at the crossroads of the most important roads in the region. The town is located south of Pristina at a distance of around 17 km (11 mi). The Municipality of Lipjan contains 422 km (163 sq mi) of land, and it consists of 70 villages. It borders

6120-652: 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

6205-603: The two official languages of Kosovo, Albanian and Serbian , Turkish and Bosnian are also the official languages of the Municipality of Prizren. Prizren Fortress Prizren Fortress ( Albanian : Kalaja e Prizrenit ; Serbian : Призренски град , Prizrenski grad ) is a hilltop fortification in Prizren in Kosovo . It overlooks the Prizren River which flows through Prizren, which developed around

6290-545: 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

6375-623: 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

6460-425: 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

6545-418: Was declared a Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1948. The Prizren fortress is named Kalaja e Prizrenit in Albanian and Prizrenska Kaljaja in Serbian. The historical neighbourhood which formed around the lower part of the fortress is named Nënkalaja (literally "below the fortress"). The name of the city has been linked with that of Petrizen, a fort in Dardania mentioned by Procopius in

6630-464: Was extensively plundered by the Serbian army after the battle. 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. Demetrios Chomatenos is the last Byzantine archbishop of Ohrid to include Prizren in his jurisdiction until 1219. Stefan Nemanja had seized

6715-555: 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

6800-643: 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

6885-402: 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

6970-528: Was situated on a road between ancient Naissus and Lissus , called Via de Zenta . It suffered from barbarian raids, especially the incursion of 517CE, and from a great earthquake that damaged much of Dardania . By the time Justinian I began his restoration of the Byzantine Empire , Ulpiana was in a ruinous condition - after repairing the town, Justinian labelled it Justiniana Secunda . Ulpiana also played an important ecclesiastical role, having had

7055-583: 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

7140-564: 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

7225-657: 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

#429570