Ciric: Ongoing process of deserbisation and erasing the historical heritage of the Serbs in Kosovo

Assistant Professor Dr. Jasmina S. Ciric, art historian and Professor at the University of Kragujevac, assesses that the increasingly frequent claims by Albanian historians about the Dardanian or Catholic heritage of Serbian Orthodox Church churches and monasteries are historically inaccurate and based on the pseudo-mythological theory of the Illyrian origin of the Albanians.

Dr. Ciric says for Kosovo Online that it is an active process of deserbisation of the Kosovo space and erasing the historical heritage of the Serbs.

"It is interesting, and somewhat unclear why contemporary Albanians and some of their historians and doctoral students insist on the ancient origin of Serbian churches, given that their connection to the Illyrians simply represents pseudo mythology," Dr. Ciric says.

She emphasizes that the Albanians skillfully manipulate the fact that the majority of medieval buildings, especially churches and monasteries from the Nemanjic period, were without exception built on a previous cult site.

"Kosovo Albanians, however, skillfully manipulate this fact, claiming that today's condition is the result of the reconstruction by the Nemanjic family, but that the Nemanjic family demolished early Albanian buildings, meaning all those objects that we know in historiography as early Byzantine from the 6th century," our interlocutor says.

Ciric, who is an expert on Serbian medieval heritage, explains to Kosovo Online that this is precisely the case with the attempt to appropriate the Church of the Mother of God in Hvosno. She says that there is a tendentious emphasis that it is a basilica, which is, as she claims, a completely ignorant interpretation of this term.

"The word 'basilica' is completely ignorantly emphasized, as if it were an architectural term that was not in the construction practice of Serbian medieval architecture. This is a fallacy, as when the word 'baptistery' is used instead of the term 'baptismal font', thinking that this word is not 'typical' in Christian culture," Ciric says.

She states that historical facts completely refute the claim that it is a Dardanian heritage.

"We know that it is an early Byzantine basilica built in the mid-6th century. We know this because it had everything, common for basilicas of that time: space for relics and an atrium on the western part. So, the remains of the basilica and the underground tomb intended for several people constitute parts of early Byzantine, not Dardanian heritage," Ciric emphasizes.

She points out that according to historical data, a new church was built on the foundations of this basilica in the third decade of the 13th century, which served as the seat of the Eparchy of Hvosno.

"This church was harmoniously proportioned, built in the manner of the Raska architectural school, with a transept and a dome. It is often equated with the Church of Christ the Savior in the Zica Monastery in terms of forms," Ciric specifies.

She says that the church was most likely reconstructed in 1219 and was built by builders from Kotor, and much has been written about the archaeological research of this temple, with the monograph "Studenica Hvostanska" published in 1976 by the Institute of Art History.

"After all, in all surveys of Serbian medieval architecture, based on preserved foundations and data derived from excavations, Studenica Hvostanska is considered an important architectural example belonging to the main currents of Serbian architecture in the 13th century," Dr. Ciric specifies.