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Centuries of Culture Vanish in Kosovo City

Wed Mar 24, 2:13 AM ET AP News

By DANICA KIRKA, Associated Press Writer

PRIZREN, Serbia-Montenegro - Bishop Atanasije Jevtic dusted ashes away
from the base of the fresco in the 14th-century cathedral gutted during
recent mob violence in Kosovo.

He then softly placed two fingers on the image of Virgin Mary in the
soot-covered fresco. But his visit to the cathedral to assess the damage
would last but four minutes: a U.N. police officer acting as his
bodyguard, a semiautomatic shotgun at the ready, hustled him away,
shouting, "It's not safe! It's not safe!"

Orthodox Christian Serbs and symbols of their culture and history were
targeted throughout Kosovo in violence last week, exposing the
underlying tensions with the mostly Muslim ethnic Albanian majority that
led to a war that ended in 1999.

Days after the rioting began, the extent of the material damage is only
now becoming clear. In all, 366 homes were destroyed and 41 churches burned.

In this southern Kosovo city, centuries of culture vanished in seconds
when mobs blamed Serbs for the deaths of two ethnic Albanian children
and rampaged through the city.

Eight churches here were set on fire and at least a dozen homes. The
devastation scarred the heart of this Ottoman-era community, with a
hillside overlooking the Bistrica River now scarred by abandoned and
blackened hulks of buildings set alight by the melee.

The mobs specifically targeted churches, the very symbols of Orthodox
Christian Serbs, who want the U.N.-run province to remain part of
Serbia-Montenegro. Kosovo's mostly Muslim ethnic Albanians want
independence.

For the last five years, NATO has stepped between the two. The alliance
moved into Kosovo after a 78-day air war aimed at stopping former
President Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanians seeking
independence. The conflict killed an estimated 10,000 people, mostly
ethnic Albanians.

In the early years of the mission, the alliance set up elaborate
protection for the churches of Kosovo, the province which is considered
hallowed ground and the birthplace of Serbian identity. Kosovo was the
site of an epic battle between Serbs and Turks in 1389.

Among the province's many treasures was the Holy Virgin of Ljevis
Cathedral, which is located just down the street from the U.N.
administration's offices. Mobs transformed the brick structure into a
gutted hulk.

Of particular note was a fresco of Jesus Christ, said Father Sava, a
spokesman for the Orthodox Church in Kosovo, who wept upon learning that
flames, smoke and soot left only a vague image on the wall.

"The church meant so very much," he said. "In France there is Notre Dame
... but for us that was the Holy Virgin of Ljevis Cathedral."

Father Sava said that Serbs who remained in Prizren after the war have
left for good now, and the only people visiting the wrecked structures
this week were ethnic Albanians curious about what damage had been done.

Among them was Bashkim Dauti, 37, a construction worker, who wandered
into the cathedral of St. George and gaped at the toppled tower in the
center of the rubble.

"I don't like what I'm seeing," he said, noting that the riots would
damage the hopes of ethnic Albanians to win independence.

"It's my feeling that we went back in time," he said. "(Independence)
will take as much time as we will need to repair the churches and the
houses that were burned."

Others suggested the destruction as revenge for the war. At the Holy
Virgin of Ljevis Cathedral, Ruzhdi Krasniqi, 23, smoked a cigarette as
he assessed the damaged and said he felt "OK" about its destruction.

"I don't want the Serbs to return here," he said. "They've got no place
here."

Atanasije didn't stop to offer his views, intent on getting in and out
of the church with his life intact. But as he saw the damaged fresco of
the Virgin Mary, he paused even though his security detail frantically
screamed for him to go.

"This is the mother of God," he said, describing the fresco.

Then he crossed himself and ran for the door.

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