Orosh

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Orosh
Oroshi
Orosh (Albania)
Paris plan pointer b jms.svg

Coordinates: 41 ° 51 '  N , 20 ° 5'  E

Basic data
Qark : Lezha
Height : 440  m above sea level A.
Area : 135.1 km²
Residents : 1899 (2011)
Population density  : 14 inhabitants / km²
Postal code : 4605
Malet e Shenjtit - mountain landscape near Orosh

Orosh ( Albanian  also  Oroshi ) is a village and a former abbey in Albania in the municipality of Mirdita . Orosh is located in the mountainous northern Albania in the valley of the Fan i Vogël .

Geography of the former municipality of Orosh

Until the summer of 2015, Orosh was also the name of a community that included 16 places. These included the main town of Reps and Blinisht in the Fan Valley, as well as various other villages such as Mashterkor and the notorious Spaç prison , in whose mines thousands of political prisoners were held under inhumane conditions during communist rule , and often had to do the hardest work Found death. The small town of Reps came into being when copper mining began in the area . The community had an area of ​​135 square kilometers and 1899 inhabitants (2011), with around a third of the families living in Reps.

The historical center, which gave the today's municipality its name, now bears the official Grykë-Orosh . The small village is remote and inaccessible in the mountains of northern Albania in a side valley of Fan i Vogël on the northwest flank of the Malet e Shenjtit mountain range below 1413  m above sea level. A. high peak Maja e Guri i Çikit at around 600 to 700 meters.

History of the place and the abbey

Orosh Church in 1903

Orosh was once the center of the social and spiritual life of the northern Albanian tribes and the de facto capital of the Mirdita . In Orosh, on the one hand, the heads of families of the Mirdites met for the council of elders, a kind of rural community or thing . On the other hand, the Alexander Monastery (Albanian: Shën Llezhdër ) was of great importance . The first written record about the important monastery founded by Benedictines (Abbey Shën Llezhri i Oroshit ) - according to another view a Basilian abbey - dates from 1313. It is probably much older. The  abbey passed to the Franciscans and had little influence during the Turkish period. Bartl called the abbots better village pastors. At Christmas 1888 Pope Leo XIII. Orosh to Private Abbey (Latin Abbatia Sancti Alexandri di Orosci ; Italian Sant 'Alessandro di Orosci ) with direct subordination ( exemption ) to the Holy See . Five parishes of the Mirdita, which had previously belonged to the diocese of Lezha  , were added to her. By 1894 seven more were added, so that the abbey encompassed the entire area of ​​the Mirdita.

The monastery complex, which was renewed and expanded under the first private abbot Preng Doçi (1888–1919), with its library, was also a center of education and the Albanian national movement Rilindja . The school, which opened here in the 19th century, was one of the first Catholic schools in the country. Today's diocese of Rrëshen emerged from the area of ​​the abbey in 1996 . Most of the region’s residents are still Catholic today .

New church in Orosh

Although the northern Albanians did not recognize central rule, there was also some sort of secular authority in Orosh. The Kapedan ("captain"), who was provided by the head of the Gjonmarku family , was the leader of the Mirdites and the final authority in decisions and disputes. The rights of the privileged family and the role of the Kapedan were precisely defined in the Kanun . Every Mirdite who killed someone (see blood revenge ) had to pay the Gjonmarku a fee. Even the Ottomans , under whom the Mirdites suffered greatly, recognized the primacy of the Gjonmarku. These primeval rituals and the Gjonmarku house are the subject of Ismail Kadare's novel The Torn April (“Prilli i thyer”; Fischer, Frankfurt / M. 2005, ISBN 3-596-15761-7 ).

Only ruins remain of the Gjonmarku house. The communists destroyed it after World War II. The town's church dates from the 16th century and was repeatedly destroyed by the Ottomans and in 1967 by the communists. It was rebuilt after the fall of 1990.

In 2016 and 2017, heavy fires raged around the village.

Situation today

Fan valley near Reps with a new motorway

For a long time the area of ​​the community was difficult to access. Even today the village of Orosh can only be reached via a bad, unpaved road. In June 2009, however, the new A1 motorway from Durrës and Milot to Kukës and Kosovo was opened, which runs through the valley of Fan i Vogël. Numerous engineering structures were created for this. Reps became a base for the construction companies. The people in the valley of Fan i Vogël hope that this will result in an economic upturn.

The administration of the district of Mirdita or today of the municipality of Mirdita is also working on projects to promote tourism to sights such as Orosh. However, these approaches are still judged to be very tentative.

The village of Orosh is one of 100 villages in which the Albanian government wants to specifically promote tourism . However, there is still a lack of tourist infrastructure in the village.

Web links

Commons : Orosh  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Njësia Administrative Orosh. (PDF) In: Këshilli i Qarkut Lezhë. Retrieved April 29, 2019 (Albanian).
  2. ↑ Sonbia Combe, Ivaylo Ditchev (ed.): Albanie utopie: Huis clos dans les Balkan . Éditions Autrement, Paris 1996, ISBN 2-86260-574-3 . Marianne Graf: Albania - north of the Shkumbin . Weishaupt Verlag, 2003, ISBN 978-3-7059-0166-7 .
  3. ↑ a b TV program Shipëria tjetër, youtube-ID XztmbRRWwR4 deleted due to copyright infringement
  4. ↑ Ines Nurja: Censusi i popullsisë dhe banesave / Population and Housing Census - Lezhë 2011 . Results Kryesore / Main Results. Ed .: INSTAT . Pjesa / Part 1. Adel Print, Tirana 2013 ( instat.gov.al [PDF; accessed April 14, 2019]).
  5. ↑ Kanun, 11th book (Der Altenrat), 9th chapter (place of consultation)
  6. ↑ a b Peter Bartl: The Abbey of St. Alexander in the Mirdita according to the reports of their abbot Prenk Doçi from the years 1888-1896. In: Münchner Zeitschrift für Balkankunde , Volume 10 a. 11, Munich 1996, pp. 7-83.
  7. ^ Peter Bartl: Albanien , Regensburg 1995, ISBN 3-7917-1451-1
  8. ↑ Markus WE Peters: Catholic Church Buildings in Albania from the Middle Ages to the Present, in Walter Raunig (Ed.): Albania - Wealth and Diversity of Ancient Culture, State Museum of Ethnology, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-9807561-2-2
  9. ↑ Kanun, Book 11 (The Council of the Elderly), Chapter 10 (The House of Gjonmarkaj)
  10. ↑ Kanun, Book 10 (The Kanun Against Crime), Chapter 3 (The Murder), item 14 (The rifle pursues the perpetrator) and item 17 (The reconciliation of the blood)
  11. ↑ James Pettifer: Blue Guide Albania & Kosovo . A & C Black, London 2001, ISBN 0-7136-5016-8 .
  12. ↑ Nje tjeter vatër zjarri e shuar në zonën Orosh, Mirditë. In: Albanian Armed Forces . August 29, 2016, accessed April 19, 2020 (Albanian).
  13. ↑ Riaktivizohen vatrat e zjarrit në veri, rrezikohet fshati Orosh në Mirditë. In: Rilindja Demokratie. August 23, 2017, accessed April 19, 2020 (Albanian).
  14. ↑ B. Ha .: Orosh, rruga e amortizuar, banorët: Të merren masa për rregullimin. In: Shqiptarja.com. May 19, 2018, accessed April 19, 2020 (Albanian).
  15. ↑ a b Fshati Orosh. In: Smile Albania. June 11, 2019, accessed April 19, 2020 (Albanian).
  16. ^ Andreas Hemming: Field research diary , in: Albanische Hefte 4/2008
  17. ↑ Pasuritë unique të Mirditës, ambasada Austriake mbështet projektin e 100 fshatrave. In: Agjencia Telegrafike Shqiptare. August 17, 2018, accessed April 19, 2020 (Albanian).