Surreal and sublime – monastery-visiting in Kosovo

Posted on by Miriam

We made our way down the mountain – carefully! – and drove over the border into Kosovo, with unbelievable ease. Our plan was to visit two UNESCO-designated monasteries – one before lunch and the other in the afternoon. Immediately, Kosovo struck us as different from Albania – the drivers were better behaved (but not great), the petrol was all priced in euros (the local currency) and the cars were, for the most part, Mercedes Benz or VW Golfs which seemed at odds with the unfinished buildings and left-over signs of destruction.

We knew that the monasteries were protected by UN forces (they are Serbian Orthodox) and that we would have to show or surrender our passports in order to visit. The first was straightforward – a very nice guard checked out Sue’s passport and let us through the gate to find the most amazing exterior of a fourteenth-century monastery:

This is the Patriarchate of Peč, begun in the 13th century and completed in the 14th.

There are four churches all linked together and smothered in frescos from top to bottom. We were not allowed to take photos – a rather severe nun on crutches monitored us carefully during our visit – but we were stunned by the beauty of it all.

We then had a rather desultory lunch in the city of Peč (I’ll do a separate blog on Kosovan streetscapes after tomorrow) before moving on to the Visoni Dečani Monastery which was an astonishing experience. We drew up to the sight of several UN vehicles, camoflagued phone boxes and dustbins, and signs everywhere saying we couldn’t take in backpacks, take photos particularly of the soldiers or any equipment etc or anything in the monastery grounds. There were also signs saying that no more than five people could enter at a time.

We surrendered our passports, Sue was given a visitor’s pass and we passed through the gates:

We were met by an Italian soldier who pointed out the entrance to the beautiful church, and said we’d be okay to take photos ’without flash’.

And then, to our amazement, we went inside the church to find every surface decorated with frescos, and not a soul to enjoy them. We wondered around in amazement and I took some photos, expecting to be told off at any minute. But no – I wasn’t – so here are some images to try and convey the amazing beauty of these fourteenth-century frescoes. I’m sorry they don’t do them justice.

Such a surreal experience – soldiers, 14th century frescoes and absolute silence in the most beautiful setting in a place with a really terrible history. We shan’t forget it.

Published by Miriam

21 thoughts on “Surreal and sublime – monastery-visiting in Kosovo”

  1. Looks amazing! I have seen wonderful frescos like this in Bulgaria in tiny churches at times and in grand monasteries. Didn’t have to surrender my passport, though… I think that always feels a bit worrying…

    1. Yes, surrendering a passport never a good moment. In this case, it felt ok but possibly because we were greeted by a handsome Italian who said ‘ prego’ when we asked if we could go into the church…

  3. The colours are spectacular. All this beauty juxtaposed with the frightening recent tragedies.

    1. Yes, you’re so right – such a bloody and unceasing history in this part of the world. So beautiful yet such hatred, just 20 years ago ..

    1. Yes, we’ll feel very intrepid. Sorry, that’s we feel very intrepid. Can go on at length about predictive text… S xx

    1. I particularly wanted a picture of the lion. There were grinning sheep and angels too but the lion was my favourite. Astonishing churches!

  8. Those frescoes are just amazing! And the colours and the paint surface are in remarkably good condition given their age (and what they’ve been through). Lucky you to be able to see them.

    1. We’re feeling very, very lucky. An extraordinary couple of days in Kosovo, though it’s a fragile place I fear

  9. A moving post embracing so many tensions. I am also amazed by the lack of damage to the frescos (stern nun guards over time?), and the facial expressions – many show emotion and nuance that i don’t believe is typical for this period

    1. The painting in all these monasteries is extraordinary. We went to the last of three today and a very helpful guide showed us how some of the fresco s had been restored after years of degeneration ( cables and other smoke generally) – really impressive craftsmanship.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *