Project was realized by cooperation
of Serbian and Italian experts
Support INTERSOS – Rome
Financial Support ARCOBALENO – Rome
The project was realized by coordinated work of local experts from seven conservation institutes from the Republic of Serbia and Italian experts from Istituto Centrale di Restauro (Central Institute for Conservation). MNEMOSYNE’s partner was Italian NGO INTERSOS. Field research, however, would not be possible without the support of the Serbian Orthodox Church (Diocese of Raška and Prizren), UNMIK and KFOR.
The teams engaged in the field research were composed of art historians, architects, painting conservators, ethnologists, experts in protection of natural heritage and photographers. They inspected 127 categorized, protected and recognized cultural properties of Orthodox Christian and Islamic religiuos and vernacular architecture, as well as accessible natural properties in Metohija.
MNEMOSYNE’s experts, working under the military protection of KFOR, inspected Christian cultural properties, while the Italian team researched the monuments of Islamic architecture. The work was based on elaborated methodology and precisely defined pre-set criteria for gathering and processing of information.
Field research was accompanied by certain obstacles resulting from movement restrictions. In certain cases, natural heritage under the highest degree of protection could not be inspected since MNEMOSYNE’s team did not get adequate military protection. The fear of unexploded mines was the reason why our team failed to inspect thoroughly the church od St George in Sredska and the chapels in the church of the Holy Virgin of Ljeviška in Prizren.
The objective of the Project has been assessment of condition of cultural and natural heritage, drafting of priority lists, recommended measures and concrete projects.
The project work resulted in technical and photo documentation including 3500 photographs and more than 1500 slides, as well as in four concrete draft projects. Results of the project were presented in the publication Final Report: Project Urgent Protection of Natural and Cultural Heritage in Metohija, released in April 2003.
