Photos of Kosovo, returning after half a century

OzOutback
Images of the World
Flag of Kosovo

Returning after half a century

In 1967 and 1969, when the black-and-white photos were taken, Kosovo was an autonomous region within the Yugoslav Republic of Serbia. There were few cars, but many donkeys and horses and many people wore traditional dress. Half a century later, in 2018, Kosovo was independent, and I went back to look for the same places I had photographed before. These photos show, side-by-side, what it looked like half a century ago and today. These are all taken from the same angle, as far as possible. In some cases, it was difficult, with new buildings blocking the old view or significant changes in the appearance. However, in all cases, the locals agreed that these photos were taken from the same point. Each photo shows the date it was made.

Bajrakli mosque
 
Bajrakli mosque
 
Flooded street
 
Street to Bajrakli mosque
 
Rruga Fatmir Ukaj
 
Fatmir Ukaj street
 
Woman splitting firewood
 
Courtyard
 
Konak Beg House
 
Ethnographic museum
 
Krena bridge
 
Krena river bridge
 
Bazaar
 
Bazaar, Hadum Mosque
 
In Hadum mosque
 
Inside Hadum Mosque
 
Main street, bazaar
 
Sylejman Hadum Aga street
 
Mulla Yusuf mosque
 
Mulla Yusuf mosque
 
Prizren market
 
Parking place
 
Street, Maksut Pasha mosque
 
Marash neighbourhood
 
Lumbardhi (Bistrica) river
 
Foot bridge
 
Ottoman bridge
 
Stone Bridge
 
Turkish bridge
 
Stone bridge, mosque
 
Sinan Pasha mosque
 
Sinan Pasha Mosque
 
Along Halveti Tekke
 
Rruga Farkëtarët
 
Halveti Tekke, mosques
 
Café
 
Gazi Mehmet Pasha Hamam
 
Hamam Gazi Mehmet Pasha
 
Emin Pasha mosque
 
Emin Pasha mosque
 
Side street
 
View into side street
 
Ilijaz Kuka mosque
 
To Iljaz Kuka Mosque
 
Lumbardhi river
 
Bridge of Beledies
 
Washing carpets
 
Bridge, Tabakhane
 
Tabakhane street
 
Street with old mill
 
Suzi �elebi Mosque
 
Suzi Mosque
 
Ottoman house
 
Renovated neighbourhood
 
Panorama from Kalaja
 
View from Kalaja
 
Mosque and clock tower
 
Mosque, clock tower
 
Cathedral and mosque
 
Cathedral with mosque
 

Peja (Peć) is the second largest city in Kosovo, and it was striking to see the once muddy streets neatly paved. Water that used to run on the roads now flowed in underground ducts. The main mosque, badly damaged during the 1999 Kosovo war, is being refurbished by a Turkish company.

Gjakova (Ðakovica), in western Kosovo between Peja and Prizren, suffered great physical destruction and human rights abuses by Serbian forces against the local Albanian population. The Çarshia e Madhe, Gjakova's old bazaar was destroyed by fire during 1999. The Serbs burnt down the library and the religious school of the Hadum mosque. Its minaret was shot off by Serb soldiers using a shoulder-launched missile. Now, it is rebuilt, and the shops in the bazaar are restored.

Prizren, called Kosovo's most Oriental City, escaped most of the damage in the 1999 war. Serbian forces destroyed the most significant Albanian cultural monument in Prizren, the League of Prizren building. During the unrest in 2004 Serb cultural monuments such as old Orthodox Serb churches like Our Lady of Ljeviš from 1307, the Church of the Holy Salvation and the Church of St. George (the city's largest church) were targeted by Albanians and most Serbs were expelled.

Prishtina (Priština), Kosovo's capital, in 1999 suffered from large scale expulsions of ethnic Albanians, but after the war, the tables had turned, and most Serbs had fled. The 15th Century Xhamia e Mbretit (Imperial mosque) was recently refurbished by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA).

Ferizaj (Uroševac) in southern Kosovo was unique because of a mosque and Serbian Orthodox church side-by-side. However, the St. Uroš Orthodox Cathedral, had been built from 1929 and 1933 on land that belonged to the Big Mosque of Mulla Veseli (built in 1891). After the war and inter-communal unrest, almost all Serbs have left. But the church, looted and set on fire, has now been repaired.