Orthodox churches in Pristina pt. 1

Let me preface this blog by saying that I am not going to take sides here.  Albanian Kosovars and Serbian Kosovars don't like each other.  That animosity has gone on now for generations.  More recently, Serbian President Milosevic in 1998-1999 genocided ethnic Albanian Kosovars, and if it were me and my family I'd have a hard time getting past that too.  It's unfortunate that Orthodoxy is connected so strongly here to Milosovic and the war/bombing/genocide on the 1990s, but without any high-level reconciliation it's hard for either side to move on.

So, here are pictures of the Orthodox cathedral in Pristina, Church of Christ the Saviour.  Construction was halted in 1999, and the site has been contested since then.  Wikipedia actually has a lengthy discussion about the church if you are interested - I won't go into it all here.  But the pictures here of a vandalized and apparently abandoned church make me sad.

Plus, as I was taking the pictures a very polite police officer approached me and spoke enough English to let me know I needed to move along.  He was very polite but very insistent.  I didn't argue.


Notice the litte trees growing in the roof

Empty on the inside


The church is right next door to the national library on the campus of the University of Pristina.  Quite the architectural contrast.  The students HATE that church and want it removed. 

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