Uncovering the history of Kosovo and the ban on remembrance of Serbian cultural heritage

Damnatio memoriae - a Latin term meaning "the condemnation of memory," was a form of punishment imposed posthumously by the Roman Senate with the goal of erasing all traces of the memory and existence of the person to whom the punishment was given. "It's actually about destroying that part of history that you don't like," says one of the interlocutors for Kosovo Online, prompting us to ask who, and by what right, has imposed such a punishment on Serbian cultural heritage in Kosovo? Granted, if the ancient Ulpiana is "Kosovo's cultural heritage," as Hovenier recently said, why shouldn't Pristina officials have the power of Roman senators?

Written by: Dragana Savic

A few days ago, Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti also visited the archaeological site of Ulpiana and stated that the discoveries made by archaeologists "shed light on the rich and ancient past of Kosovo."

Although experts point out that such claims have no scientific basis, considering that it is an ancient Byzantine city, and rather represent a rewriting of history, their expertise comes from the fields of history or art history. But here, we are talking about politics.

Therefore, the "discoveries" of Kosovo politicians and some foreign diplomats go far beyond what archaeologists and other representatives of the profession have found.

After all, it is logical that those who best know how far back the "history of Kosovo" goes are its creators. And as for those who oppose this new narrative, in Hegelian terms, so much the worse for them.

Experts warn that this "uncovering of history" has been going on for a long time and is not typical only for Kosovo Albanians, but that almost all "near-Serbian nationalisms" are built through the negation of Serbian culture.

That the destruction of Serbian cultural heritage in Kosovo has been a process lasting for decades is confirmed for Kosovo Online by Dr. Bojan Popovic, a museum advisor from the National Museum in Belgrade. He notes that it is, however, absurd that things were better in the 19th century than in the 21st century.

"This has always existed. We are in the Balkans, and this has always existed in the world as well; it’s damnatio memoriae - the destruction of that part of history that you don't like. But I want to say that it is absurd that perhaps things were better in the 19th century than they are in the 21st. And that, in fact, things have gotten worse since NATO troops arrived rather than before, and that this has not stopped but has continued and accelerated. Because obviously, someone is giving some kind of impulse to it," says Popovic.

As for the National Museum in Belgrade, it has been collecting cultural artifacts of the Serbian people since its founding, so a large number of items from the territory of Kosovo are also found in its collections, notes Popovic.

"To mention just a few of the works: for example, the original frescoes from the Church of the Virgin of Ljevis, which date back to the 13th century, from the time when Serbian rule extended to the Prizren area. Then, there is stone sculpture, like the famous full sculpture from the Banjska Monastery in several sculptural parts. Also, a portion of the famous floor from the Holy Archangels Monastery near Prizren. Additionally, some icons, such as the Transfiguration icon from Budisavci or the Annunciation icon, which may originate from the Holy Archangels near Prizren," adds Popovic, noting that this is just "a drop in the ocean."

In addition, the museum is constantly engaged in documenting and monitoring what is happening in Kosovo to the extent that it is possible.

"And we are always ready, if circumstances change and if any law and some 19th-century European values come into effect, and it finally becomes allowed to access those many mined churches and conduct archaeology, in that context, we can help with those, unfortunately now movable, cultural assets, such as fragments of frescoes, by processing, fitting, and documenting them," says Popovic.

The exact same pattern can be seen, in varying degrees of intensity, in Croatia, in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Montenegro, where there is a completely distorted relationship with national identity based solely on the negation of Serbian identity, philosopher Nikola Tanasic explains for Kosovo Online.

"In other words, we are only interested in certain cultural heritage to the extent that we can prove it is not Serbian. If we can prove it is not Serbian, we will incorporate it, but we won't care for it. If we cannot prove it, then our goal is to destroy it, to obliterate it, and to erase any trace that Serbs ever existed there and, God forbid, left behind something that is UNESCO heritage or cultural heritage of the whole world," says Tanasic.

He believes that Kosovo is a living issue of Serbian culture on all levels, but the key aspect is the legislative one.

"If we want to make serious steps towards protecting our property, we must start passing laws that prescribe concrete measures for its protection. Because as long as it is not legally defined, as long as it has not passed through parliament, as long as it has not been signed by the president, as long as it is not at the level of state policy that is put on paper, it can be manipulated, and it can be subject to verbal agreements, private promises, and so on. Therefore, the sooner this issue starts to be institutionalized, the sooner the state begins to approach this issue as a state matter, and not as a personal relationship between this or that politician and this or that foreign diplomat, the sooner we will be in a position to actually do something useful and improve the situation on the ground," concludes Tanasic.

The systematic rewriting of history is a process that has been ongoing in the Balkans for a long time, including in Kosovo, says historian Dr. Boris Stojkovski for Kosovo Online.

"If we talk about Ulpiana, it has absolutely nothing to do with Albanians, nor, fundamentally, with Serbs. It is primarily an early Christian Roman city, and it cannot be part of some imaginary Kosovar heritage, not only because the so-called Kosovo essentially does not exist as a state for many reasons, but also because something related to the heritage associated with the majority population of today's Kosovo and Metohija, which are Albanians, cannot be something from the Roman period," explains our interlocutor.

He warns that there are already dozens of monographs that speak of some kind of history of Kosovo and have a subversive element, and such things are often done with the support of the United States, which is "one of the most significant patrons of the so-called independence of Kosovo and Metohija (KiM)." In the fight against such a narrative, both politics and expertise are important, in his opinion.

"Experts are there to present indisputable facts, whether it's about Ulpiana, which we are discussing, or about Visoki Decani, Novo Brdo, Vucitrn, Zvecan, or Trepca, which has existed as a mine from the Middle Ages to the present day. Experts have spoken and continue to speak about these matters, and not only Serbian or former Yugoslav experts. There are serious foreign researchers who deal with this, so not everyone is necessarily tied to a specific policy or ideology. But if this does not have broad support, it remains trapped in narrow academic circles," concludes Stojkovski.

The historian from Gracanica, Aleksandar Gudzic, warns for Kosovo Online that the laws meant to protect Serbian cultural heritage in Kosovo are not respected in practice.

"Those that are under UNESCO protection are cared for by UNESCO, by Kosovo institutions, but also by the Republic of Serbia. On the ground, these sites are secured by the Kosovo Police. The status of these churches and monasteries is legally regulated, and there is a special protected zone around them. In practice, of course, the Constitution of Kosovo and legal regulations are not respected, not implemented. No one adheres to these laws in practice, so we have, for example, right next to Gazimestan, the site of the Battle of Kosovo, an Albanian businessman, Orka or Orca, who built a structure even though any construction within 50, 100, 200 meters of the protected zone is prohibited," says our interlocutor.

He also reminds us that "this narrative and this attempt to extinguish Serbian cultural heritage, to erase the memory of Serbian presence in these areas, is not something new."

"Experience has shown that it is not enough just to expel the Serbs and destroy their heritage; it is also necessary to establish a new narrative to imprint in the minds of ordinary people the memory of Albanian continuity in those areas. This narrative has its roots long before Hovenier, long before Kosovo's 'independence.' According to this narrative, the Serbs occupied Kosovo," this historian explains. 

He adds that he "understands" the Kosovo institutions and the Kosovo public in general, and why they insist so much on Ulpiana.

"When tourists or some Western delegation arrive, the most representative thing that Kosovo Albanians can offer the world is Ulpiana. That is the only place they can visit. If they go to Gracanica, they will be met by representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church; if they go to Novo Brdo, the traces of Serbian history are visible there. So, Ulpiana is the only place where they can come and present to foreigners what Kosovo possesses and, through the narrative, emphasize their Illyrian origins," Gudzic concludes.