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Pristina is Kosovo’s main city and all the sights of the city are within easy walking distance. This allows you to walk through the city’s various historical and architectural periods in a short time; for example, from the Old Town to the Pristina created during the Yugoslav era.
A good place to get an overview of it all is from the cathedral tower that rises above the city. Pristina’s streets give a good impression of Kosovo’s different faiths with Serbian Orthodox, Catholics and Muslims as dominant congregations. There are also various interesting monuments such as a statue of American Bill Clinton and the letters NEWBORN.
Korza is Pristina’s elegant pedestrian street and a must during a walk in the city. There are countless shops along Korza that connects Pristina’s old and new districts. Old Pristina consists of narrow streets and alleys and a number of buildings dating back to the Ottoman era. By contrast, the modern city is an exponent of modern Yugoslavia and today’s Pristina, where, for example, the government buildings have been built in recent years.
The surrounding area of Pristina offers opportunities to see and explore Kosovo’s nature and provincial towns, where Prizren is the best choice for an excursion. It gives you a different perspective on the history of the area, and with close proximity to Skopje you can also easily visit Macedonia’s capital from Pristina.
The Blessed Mother Teresa Cathedral is Pristina’s Roman Catholic cathedral. It was built as an archbishop’s seat and replaces the seat in the city of Prizren. The foundation stone was laid in 2005, but the actual construction did not start until 2007. In 2010, the dedication service was held, although the estimated time of the church’s completion was calculated for 2015.
Architecturally, the church was inspired by Italian Romanesque churches, and a beautiful detail is the white bell tower that was built on the side of the nave. A similar tower is planned on the opposite side of the church. There is access by elevator to the top of the finished tower, and from here you are blessed with probably Pristina’s most impressive view of the entire center.
In addition to the church itself, the Archbishop’s residence is also located here. The construction is significant for Kosovo’s Catholics, and the beautiful cathedral also stands as a symbol of peaceful coexistence between Christians and Muslims.
Korza is the popular name for Pristina’s pedestrian street, which is the city’s main street with shops, restaurants, hotels, ministries, etc. A walk along Korza is a must during a visit to Pristina, and in season it is a good place to choose for outdoor dining, where you can enjoy Pristina’s big city atmosphere.
On the west side of the street, behind the trees, you can see a monument to Mother Theresa in the form of a fine statue. Korza’s official name is also Mother Theresa Boulevard/Bulevardi Nënë Tereza.
The Emin Gjiku Ethnological Museum is a gem of a museum, and it is slightly off the beaten track. The short trip here is, however, rewarded by a couple of exceptionally beautiful houses from the 18th century and of course the museum itself.
There are two houses that Emin Gjiku built in his time as a residence for his family. The smaller of the museum’s two open houses shows life in a town house of the very wealthy family headed by Emin Gjiku. Here are impressions from earlier lifestyles in the city, while in the big house various ethnological effects from both the country and the city are mostly exhibited.
The large house in the museum was built by Emin Gjiku because the first one had become too cramped when the family grew. The house was turned into a museum in 2006, and its interior is worth seeing in itself.
In the central square of Pristina stands an equestrian statue of the Albanian national hero George Skanderbeg/Gjergj Skënderbeu, who lived in the years 1405-1468. Skanderbeg became the leader of the Albanian people, and he managed to keep the expanding Ottoman Empire at bay before it annexed Albania after his death. The monument was erected in Pristina on the basis that the majority in Kosovo are ethnically Albanian and thus in several ways share history and culture with the country of Albania.
The Pristina Clock Tower is a tower in the old town of Pristina, where several mosques are located. The mosques as well as the clock tower came to the city with the Ottoman Empire. As usual, a bell tower was erected centrally so that the inhabitants could see the time and thereby perform their prayers.
The clock tower in Pristina is 26 meters high and was built in the 19th century during Jashar Pasha’s time as mayor. In addition to prayer times, it was also supposed to be a clock for traders so they knew when to close their shops. The tower is today a significant building in this part of the city.
This mosque is the largest of the three mosques located within a short distance along the street Rruga Ibrahim Lutfiu. The mosque was built in 1460-1461 under the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II, after whom it is also named. Mehmet II was nicknamed Fatih, meaning the conqueror.
The mosque is a beautiful building with characteristic ornamentation with stylized flowers. The 15 meter high dome is also impressive and a large work on the scale of the 15th century.
The appearance today stems partly from the 15th century and partly from a major restoration and rebuilding in 1682-1683. However, the minaret was rebuilt after the earthquake that hit the city in 1955. In 1689, the Austrians temporarily conquered the area, and they installed a Jesuit church in the mosque, which shortly afterwards regained its original function. The mosque is still active.
Newborn Monument is a monument that consists of capital letters which together form the word NEWBORN. It is a symbol of Kosovo’s rebirth in the form of their declaration of independence on February 17, 2008. The monument was dedicated on this very day, and each year the event is marked by NEWBORN being painted in new colors or patterns.
Behind the design is Fisnik Ismaili, and the monument measures 24 meters in width, 3 meters in height and 0.9 meters in depth. Production took around ten days and the Newborn Monument has won several design awards since its completion.
Muzeu i Kosovës is the national museum of Kosovo. It was established as an institution in 1949 with the aim of preserving and communicating the cultural heritage in the area. The museum is housed in a beautiful building from 1898 and therefore in the Austro-Hungarian era, and here you can experience a very wide collection that represents various themes in Kosovo’s culture. Here, for example, there is archaeology, technology, nature and folklore.
The museum building was built for the Turkish-Ottoman military in 1898, and the Yugoslav army used the site until 1975. It is one of Pristina’s larger buildings from the decades around 1900.
The Kosovo National Library is one of Kosovo’s important national institutions. The library was established to ensure the collection and preservation of the intellectual cultural heritage of the region. From its founding in 1944 to 1946, the library was located in the town of Prizen, and since then it has been located in Pristina. The current and architecturally very exciting building was put into use in 1982.
Martyrs’ Monument is a memorial located at a close distance from the city center of Pristina and yet high above the city. It is an imposing monument dedicated to those who fell in the Yugoslav freedom struggle against the Germans in the years 1941-1945. 220 fallen are buried at the monument.
In addition to seeing the Martyrs’ Monument, which is a typical architectural example from the time of socialist Yugoslavia, you can enjoy a nice view of parts of Pristina and the surrounding area from the place.
The Kosovo National Art Gallery was established in 1979 as the region’s leading institution within its purpose of presenting various art forms performed by artists not least from Kosovo. Among the exhibited artists at the gallery, you can experience works by Muslim Mulliqi, who is considered perhaps Kosovo’s most significant painter from the 20th century. There are also sculptures and graphic art and continuously changing exhibitions.
The gallery building was built in 1935 as a military barracks by the Yugoslav military. Since then, it has housed both a World War II museum and a library, before the current art gallery opened here in 1995.
Skopje is the capital of North Macedonia and it is an experience not found anywhere else in the world. All over the city center you will find newly erected buildings that are monumentally inspired by columns and porticos from ancient Greece and Rome.
Popularly, in recent years, a city has been erected that has not been seen for nearly 2,000 years. The temple style and ancient references are everywhere, and it is like walking around in a mix of bygone times, modern entertainment and a European metropolis. Countless statues and monuments stand among the impressive buildings of modern classicism.
The city of Prizren is, after Pristina, the largest in the Kosovo region, and historically it is interesting as, among other things, the cultural capital of the Ottoman Empire in this region. Over time, Prizren has also been an important ecclesiastical seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
There are quite a few sights to see in Prizren. At the top of the city, east of the old town, lies the city’s fortress on a strategically important ridge. From the fortress there is a fine view of the city and the region.
In the city you can see the Stone Bridge/Ura e gurit/Каменси мост, which is from the Ottoman era. The bridge is a landmark of Prizren, but its exact construction time is not known. There are also several religious buildings in the city, the most noteworthy of which is the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral Bogorodica Ljevishka/Богородица Љевишка. The cathedral was built 1306-1309.
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The region of Kosovo has been inhabited through millennia of different cultures. Around Pristina, effects are excavated dating back to the 7th century BC. Later the Romans arrived and they conquered Illyria in the year 168 BC The Romans established several settlements in the area called Dardania.
Among other things, the Romans founded the city of Ulpiana, which became one of the most important Roman cities in both Dardania and the Balkans. Ulpiana was hit by a major earthquake in the year 518 and it was to be rebuilt. Emperor Justinian I built the city with impressive facilities and named it Justiniana Secunda. In the same centuries, slaves came to Darnania with contemporary migrations, and with them began the decay of Ulpianas.
By the 300s, the region had been subjugated to the Byzantine Empire instead of the Roman Empire, and that status continued with Bulgarian disruptions until 1180. Several times and, among other things, from the mid-800s to the beginning of the 1000s, Kosovo belonged to the first Bulgarian empire.
The present Kosovo became a significant part of Serbia through the Middle Ages starting from 1180, and Pristina had become an important city, which had a royal residence for several rulers; for example for Stefan Milutin, who ruled 1282-1321. Fortresses and monasteries were erected in the area and the facilities reinforced the strategic importance of the Pristina area.
Pristina’s beginnings are not known in detail, but the town’s name is first known from documents dating from 1342, when Byzantine Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos referred to the city as a village.
Pristina developed rapidly from its smaller size and importance through the 1300s to 1400s, partly on central trade routes in the Balkans and partly on the mines of Novo Brdo. The Serbian era lasted until 1389, when over 500 years of Turkish rule began.
The Turkish Ottomans’ conquest of the Balkans over a long period of time also affected the Pristina and Kosovo area, which in 1389 became subject to the sultan power. The new rulers left their natural mark on the city, which received its first mosque in the late 1300s. However, the composition and traditions of the population continued for a long time, and after almost a hundred years of Ottoman rule, in 1487 there were 412 and 94 Muslim households in the city.
The 1300-1400s were a time when Pristina was rapidly developing. The city’s craftsmen were well-known and skilled, and annual trade fairs were held to showcase the results of many crafts. Exports from Pristina, among other things, were assisted by merchants from Ragusa, who brought the goods to the Adriatic Sea and beyond.
In the mid-17th century, the traveling writer visited Evliya Celebi Pristina, and he was impressed with the city’s fine landscaping and fields. At that time, there were about 2,000 families living in the city, characterized by good and stable times, and several artisan gifts worked in the city’s life.
The centuries-long Ottoman rule over Pristina and Kosovo was interrupted once. It happened in 1689-1690 during the many wars between the Austrian Habsburgs and the Turkish Ottomans.
Catholic Albanian priest Pjetër Bogdani led and placed himself on the Austrian side with 6,000 Albanian soldiers. Austrian troops had arrived in Pristina, but they suffered a defeat in January 1690, and then Ottoman rule continued.
Over the years, the city of Prizren had been the seat of the Ottomans’ rule of Kosovo, making it the capital of the region. In 1874 this status was moved to Pristina, which for that reason experienced a flourishing.
In 1874 the railway also reached Pristina in the form of the opening of the railway between Thessaloniki and Mitrovica, and it was a time when Pristina was described as a city with a Greek Orthodox bishop, several mosques, a bazaar, bathing facilities and about 8,000 inhabitants.
Throughout the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire of the Turks gradually weakened, and increasingly struggles for independence in the many countries administered by the Ottoman Empire.
In 1912, an Albanian army led by Hasan Prishtina overcame the Ottoman forces, and the goal was to form a Great Banana where Pristina and Kosovo were part of it.
By this time, the Balkans had been formed by Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Greece, with the aim of combating the remaining territories of the Ottoman Empire in Europe. Serbia opposed the formation of Great Banana, as this was partly part of the Serbs’ landings planned in Kosovo.
In October 1912, Serbia could take Pristina, but Kosovo remained Serbian for only three years, after which Bulgaria occupied the region in 1915 during World War I. After the end of the war, Pristina and Kosovo became Serbian again as part of the first Yugoslavia. Many Serbs moved to the city and the area, settling in former Ottoman residences.
Yugoslavia capitulated to the Axis Powers led by Germany in April 1941. In June of that year, Benito Mussolini proclaimed a new Great Banana under Italian control, and Pristina and Kosovo joined it. Italy was conquered later in the war, and German troops instead occupied Pristina and ruled the region. After World War II, Kosovo again became part of Yugoslavia, and due to the struggles and various purges, the people of Pristina were reduced to less than 10,000.
After World War II, the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia was transformed into a communist republic, and Pristina was made the capital of the Kosovo region.
With the new status of the city and the development of Yugoslavia, a large-scale modernization was initiated in Pristina. Large areas of the old city were redeveloped, and new ones were built under the communist parole of this time to destroy the old ones to build new ones. However, some houses and buildings from the Ottoman period were preserved, but the focus during these decades was a massive expansion of the city.
Pristina’s population rose sharply, reaching 70,000 in the early 1970s and over 100,000 during ten years later. Modern blocks of flats on the outskirts were shot up to the large settlement, and much else was also built in the city, which as a regional capital was allocated funds for the establishment of various institutions such as a university. The city’s growth came mainly through Yugoslavia, and as the Yugoslav economy went down, Pristina’s economy deteriorated and the city stagnated.
In 1999, fighting broke out in Pristina and Kosovo, which, as part of Yugoslavia, had Yugoslav police and Yugoslav army units in the region. There were battles between the Yugoslav authorities and Albanian rebels, and NATO also made some bombardments of strategic targets in the city. The acts of war led to first Russian and NATO forces joining Pristina in June, and in the coming years Kosovo became a UN-administered region.
The presence of the UN and other international organizations led to a reconstruction of Pristina and Kosovo, which with organizations gained access to funds that secured an economic boom with many new cafes and eateries, and the city center has been established since 1999, and several new, beautiful plants and buildings have arrived.
Pristina, Kosovo
Overview of Pristina
Pristina is Kosovo’s main city and all the sights of the city are within easy walking distance. This allows you to walk through the city’s various historical and architectural periods in a short time; for example, from the Old Town to the Pristina created during the Yugoslav era.
A good place to get an overview of it all is from the cathedral tower that rises above the city. Pristina’s streets give a good impression of Kosovo’s different faiths with Serbian Orthodox, Catholics and Muslims as dominant congregations. There are also various interesting monuments such as a statue of American Bill Clinton and the letters NEWBORN.
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In the central square of Pristina stands an equestrian statue of the Albanian national hero George Skanderbeg/Gjergj Skënderbeu, who lived in the years 1405-1468. Skanderbeg became the leader of the Albanian people, and he managed to keep the expanding Ottoman Empire at bay before it annexed Albania after his death. The monument was erected in Pristina on the basis that the majority in Kosovo are ethnically Albanian and thus in several ways share history and culture with the country of Albania.
The Pristina Clock Tower is a tower in the old town of Pristina, where several mosques are located. The mosques as well as the clock tower came to the city with the Ottoman Empire. As usual, a bell tower was erected centrally so that the inhabitants could see the time and thereby perform their prayers.
The clock tower in Pristina is 26 meters high and was built in the 19th century during Jashar Pasha’s time as mayor. In addition to prayer times, it was also supposed to be a clock for traders so they knew when to close their shops. The tower is today a significant building in this part of the city.
This mosque is the largest of the three mosques located within a short distance along the street Rruga Ibrahim Lutfiu. The mosque was built in 1460-1461 under the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II, after whom it is also named. Mehmet II was nicknamed Fatih, meaning the conqueror.
The mosque is a beautiful building with characteristic ornamentation with stylized flowers. The 15 meter high dome is also impressive and a large work on the scale of the 15th century.
The appearance today stems partly from the 15th century and partly from a major restoration and rebuilding in 1682-1683. However, the minaret was rebuilt after the earthquake that hit the city in 1955. In 1689, the Austrians temporarily conquered the area, and they installed a Jesuit church in the mosque, which shortly afterwards regained its original function. The mosque is still active.
Newborn Monument is a monument that consists of capital letters which together form the word NEWBORN. It is a symbol of Kosovo’s rebirth in the form of their declaration of independence on February 17, 2008. The monument was dedicated on this very day, and each year the event is marked by NEWBORN being painted in new colors or patterns.
Behind the design is Fisnik Ismaili, and the monument measures 24 meters in width, 3 meters in height and 0.9 meters in depth. Production took around ten days and the Newborn Monument has won several design awards since its completion.
Muzeu i Kosovës is the national museum of Kosovo. It was established as an institution in 1949 with the aim of preserving and communicating the cultural heritage in the area. The museum is housed in a beautiful building from 1898 and therefore in the Austro-Hungarian era, and here you can experience a very wide collection that represents various themes in Kosovo’s culture. Here, for example, there is archaeology, technology, nature and folklore.
The museum building was built for the Turkish-Ottoman military in 1898, and the Yugoslav army used the site until 1975. It is one of Pristina’s larger buildings from the decades around 1900.
The Kosovo National Library is one of Kosovo’s important national institutions. The library was established to ensure the collection and preservation of the intellectual cultural heritage of the region. From its founding in 1944 to 1946, the library was located in the town of Prizen, and since then it has been located in Pristina. The current and architecturally very exciting building was put into use in 1982.
Martyrs’ Monument is a memorial located at a close distance from the city center of Pristina and yet high above the city. It is an imposing monument dedicated to those who fell in the Yugoslav freedom struggle against the Germans in the years 1941-1945. 220 fallen are buried at the monument.
In addition to seeing the Martyrs’ Monument, which is a typical architectural example from the time of socialist Yugoslavia, you can enjoy a nice view of parts of Pristina and the surrounding area from the place.
The Kosovo National Art Gallery was established in 1979 as the region’s leading institution within its purpose of presenting various art forms performed by artists not least from Kosovo. Among the exhibited artists at the gallery, you can experience works by Muslim Mulliqi, who is considered perhaps Kosovo’s most significant painter from the 20th century. There are also sculptures and graphic art and continuously changing exhibitions.
The gallery building was built in 1935 as a military barracks by the Yugoslav military. Since then, it has housed both a World War II museum and a library, before the current art gallery opened here in 1995.
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