Serbian Orthodox monastery listed as ‘endangered’ with monks facing attacks

Visoki Decani, a Serbian Orthodox monastery in Kosovo that is considered endangered. Creative Commons photo.

BELGRADE — The Serbian Orthodox monastery Visoki Decani is now considered one of the seven most endangered monuments and heritage sites in Europe, according to Europe’s leading cultural site preservation group, Europa Nostra.

Called Visoki Decani — or “High Decani” — for its impressive dimensions, the monastery was built in the first half of the 14th century and contains a unique mixture of architectural styles and over 1,000 original frescoes. It’s located in Kosovo, a self-declared state with U.S. support. 

Christian Orthodox Serbs are currently the minority in Kosovo, and their status is complex and very difficult. The result of the 2011 Census shows that Muslims make up 95% of the population, while Catholics make up only 2.2% and Orthodox Christians only 1.5%. 

The Republic of Kosovo declared self-independence in 2008, which is recognized by 98 out of 193 United Nations member states but remains the main issue for Serbian foreign policy. 

Visoki Decani is one of the holiest sites of the Serbian Orthodox Church. It’s also a famous place of holy pilgrimage for Orthodox Christians and more. 

St. Sava, the first Serbian Orthodox Archbishop, is responsible for the idea to build the monastery, but construction was overseen by Serbian King Stefan Decanski and finished in 1335 during the reign of his son, Stefan Dusan. They all belong to the Nemanjici, the most famous Serbian royal dynasty. 

The monastery has endured centuries of turbulence, including Turkish rule, occupations by Italians and Germans in WWII and ethnic slaughter in the 1990s. It has been guarded by NATO-led troops since 1999 and is one of the four UNESCO World Heritage medieval monuments in Kosovo designated as a heritage site in danger.

“This is the only monument in Europe under such robust international military protection for a continuous period of 20 years,” the board of Europa Nostra said. “Yet, it constitutes a monument of outstanding historical and cultural importance for Europe and the world, as confirmed by its World Heritage status.”

Monks often express concern for the safety of the monastery because of repeated attacks on the building. 

In March 2004, an Albanian mob threw Molotov cocktails at the building in the midst of the “March unrest,” one of the worst periods of violent unrest in Kosovo. In the unrest, 27 people died, thousands of Serbian and non-Albanian civilians were forced to leave their homes, and buildings were damaged or destroyed, including 35 Orthodox churches.

U.S. President Joe Biden has supported protecting the monastery in the past. In a confidential letter from 2002, Biden asked Kosovo’s prime minister to protect Visoki Decani.

In 2005, he testified in front of Congress on the 2004 violence:

“KFOR [a NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo] proved unable or unwilling to prevent this destruction. In fact, in several cases, the outrages occurred while European KFOR troops stood by. One of the few venerable monasteries that remained untouched was Visoki Decani.”

Biden visited the monastery twice, as a senator in 2001 and as vice president in 2009. In his report to the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Foreign Relations, he said:

“I met with Serbian Orthodox Father Sava Janjic at the magnificent 14th century Visoki Decani Monastery in the shadow of the Albanian Alps. During the 1999 war the monks offered refuge to both their Albanian and Serbian neighbors. Nonetheless, they live under constant threat from radical ethnic Albanians and were spared damage only by the presence of Italian KFOR troops who are stationed just outside the monastery’s gates. In the 1990’s, Father Sava won international notoriety as the ‘‘cyberpriest’’ for his anti-Milosevic website. The West must do all it can to support Kosovo Serbs who desire to return and to safeguard all Serbian Orthodox religious sites.”

One of the obstacles facing the monastery is a dispute with Kosovo officials over 24 hectares of land that is still ongoing. In May 2016, after 16 years of dispute over ownership of monastery land in Decani municipality, the Constitutional Court of Kosovo issued a decision upholding a previous 2012 Supreme Court decision confirming the ownership of Visoki Decani.

In the annual International Religious Freedom Report (2019), the State Department wrote: “Embassy officials advocated with all levels of government for implementation of the 2016 Constitutional Court decision ordering the return of land to Visoki Decani Monastery, urging the government and the judiciary to hold local officials accountable.”

The other problem for the monastery is the regional highway “Decani-Plav.” The road is planned to pass through the protected zone of the Visoki Decani monastery, only 160 feet from the church. According to Kosovo law, construction of main roads through protected zones is prohibited. 

“It is absurd that international representatives and the Serbian Orthodox Church should remind the government of Kosovo of its constitutional obligations to implement the decision of its Constitutional Court and the law on special protection zones in accordance with the Constitution and laws of Kosovo,” Abbot Sava Janjic said in a statement.

Despite all its troubles, the monastery lives its life behind barbed wire, protected by KFOR soldiers. And as Abbot Sava Janjic once told the New York Times: “I’m not planning to leave at all, as long as I am in this world. This is my home.”

Other endangered monuments include the Achensee Steam Cog Railway in Austria, a cemetery complex in Croatia, five Southern Aegean Islands in Greece, The Giusti Garden in Italy, the Central Post Office in Macedonia and the San Juan de Socueva Chapel and Hermitage in Spain. 

“These sites are important testimonies of our shared past, memory and identity,” said Guy Clausse, Executive Vice-President of Europa Nostra.

Mladen Aleksic is a freelance journalist who covers the Orthodox Church as well as a theologian and elementary school teacher in Serbia. He writes for various Serbian media outlets as well as Balkan Insight, Global Comment and Christianity Today. Follow him on Twitter @MladenAleksic85.