Prizren

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Prizren / Prizreni 1
Prizren / Призрен 2
Prizren Coat of Arms
Prizren (Kosovo)
Paris plan pointer b jms.svg
Basic data
State : KosovoKosovo Kosovo 3
District : Prizren
Municipality : Prizren
Coordinates : 42 ° 13 '  N , 20 ° 44'  E Coordinates: 42 ° 12 '46 "  N , 20 ° 44' 21"  E
Height : 450  m above sea level A.
Residents : 85,119 (2011)
Telephone code : +383 (0) 29
Postal code : 20000-20080
License plate : 04
1  Albanian (indefinite / definite form) ,
2  Serbian (Latin / Cyrillic spelling)
3  Kosovo's independence is controversial. Serbia continues to regard the country as a Serbian province.

Prizren ( Albanian  also  Prizreni , Serbian - Cyrillic Призрен ) is a city in southern Kosovo at the foot of the Šar Planina not far from the main border crossing with Albania . It is the official seat of the municipality of the same name and a district .

The old stone bridge spans the Bistrica. In the background the Sinan Pasha Mosque and on the left the fortress of Prizren

Prizren plays an important role in the history of Kosovo . It was a religious center for the Serbian Orthodox Church and one of the largest cities in the region for centuries. As a trading center, it flourished under the Serbian and Ottoman rule and even attracted Central European merchants who opened branches. With the arrival of Islam in the 15th century, Prizren became the regional center of another religion. In the age of nationalism of the 19th century ( Rilindja ), Prizren was a meeting place for Albanian nationalists who tried - partly with literary work, partly with military force - to end the rule of the Ottomans in the Albanian areas and to found a nation state.

Today Prizren - with over 85,000 inhabitants the second largest city in the country - is above all an important traffic junction, a cultural center and, with its partially preserved old town and the many historical buildings, an attraction for tourists.

geography

Geographical location

View from the fortress to the west

Prizren is located in the south of Kosovo. In the north it borders on the large municipalities of Gjakova , Rahovec , Mamusha , Suhareka and Štrpce . In the south-east, the Šar Planina mountain range (Alb. Malet e Sharrit ) forms the natural border with North Macedonia . To the south, Prizren shares a border with the large municipality of the mountain town of Dragash . In the south-west lies Albania , which is separated from the larger municipality by the Pashtrik mountains .

The Bistrica e Prizrenit flows through the southern urban area coming from the southeast and flows a few kilometers in a south-westerly direction into the White Drin , which characterizes the entire western part of the larger municipality of Prizren.

The Prizren city area belongs to Metohien (or called Dukagjin Plain ), the western half of Kosovo, and forms the southeastern end of this agriculturally important plain. The highest peaks of the municipality are the up to 2400 meter high peaks of the Šar Planina and the Pashtrik with 1988 meters above sea level.

The municipality has a small portion of the Fierza reservoir in the southwest on the border with Albania , where the lowest point is at 280 meters. In the mountains in the south and southeast there are also some mountain lakes, such as Lake Brezna on the pass road between Prizren and Dragash. Due to the many bumps and slopes, there are a number of high waterfalls in the mountainous area.

Expansion of the urban area

The approximately ten square kilometers large settlement area takes up one hundredth of the larger municipality and has a maximum northwest-southeast extension of about 5.5 kilometers and a northeast-southwest extension of about 4.5 kilometers. There are only forests on the directly adjoining mountainside in the southeast, otherwise the city is surrounded by agricultural areas or grasslands.

climate

According to its equatorial latitude of 45 ° N, Prizren (φ 42 ° N) lies in the subtropics . With the relief framing by Šar Planina and Prokletije, as well as the shielding effect of the Albanian mountains, which are strongly in relief from the Adriatic Sea , Prizren still belongs to the area of ​​the southeast European continental climate . Located in the lee of these mountains, the 2137 hours of sunshine measured here enable the cultivation of fruit and wine ( blackbird fields ).

Mediterranean climatic influences that penetrate the area of ​​Kosovo via Albania and in particular via the Drin river valley, which crosses the mountains of Albania, is particularly evident in the distribution of the rainy seasons. These concentrate on the rainy winter months ( winter rainy climate ). The mean temperature maxima in summer reach almost 30 ° C (28.5 ° C in July), but the nights with 15.8 ° C here in July are not too hot due to the soil inversion and valley winds of the Šar Planina. In November and December, the relatively warm water masses of the Mediterranean, in conjunction with the Adriatic cyclones, cause autumn / winter maximum precipitation. In January and February there is less rainfall and more hours of sunshine. The summers are not entirely without rain; Prizren's basin location favors summer thunderstorms .

In winter, the mean minima in December (−1 ° C), January (−3 ° C) and February (−0.6 ° C) are well below freezing point. Snowfall and periodic snow cover are therefore regular occurrences in Prizren. Because of these severe winters, land use in the Metochian basin landscape is also limited to hardy crops such as wheat, maize and wine.

In the summer months, forest fires are problematic in many places .

Prizren
Climate diagram
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Temperature in ° C ,  precipitation in mm
Source: Hydrometeorological Institute of the Republic of Serbia ;
Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Prizren 1961–1990
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Max. Temperature ( ° C ) 3.3 6.8 11.9 17.2 22.5 26.0 28.5 28.3 24.5 18.0 11.1 5.0 O 17th
Min. Temperature (° C) -3.0 -0.6 2.7 6.9 11.3 14.4 15.8 15.4 12.1 7.3 3.2 -1.0 O 7.1
Temperature (° C) 0.0 2.8 7.1 11.9 16.8 20.2 22.2 21.8 18.1 12.3 6.9 1.8 O 11.9
Precipitation ( mm ) 76.2 54.1 63.5 61.1 66.7 69.7 58.6 127.4 58.2 55.1 88.3 81.1 Σ 860
Hours of sunshine ( h / d ) 3.2 3.3 4.5 5.9 7.2 9.7 9.7 9.2 7.4 5.3 3.0 1.8 O 5.9
Rainy days ( d ) 13 12 12 13 12 12 9 8th 8th 9 13 14th Σ 135
Humidity ( % ) 81 75 68 64 64 61 58 59 67 74 79 82 O 69.3
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
3.3
-3.0
6.8
-0.6
11.9
2.7
17.2
6.9
22.5
11.3
26.0
14.4
28.5
15.8
28.3
15.4
24.5
12.1
18.0
7.3
11.1
3.2
5.0
-1.0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
N
i
e
d
e
r
s
c
h
l
a
g 		76.2
54.1
63.5
61.1
66.7
69.7
58.6
127.4
58.2
55.1
88.3
81.1
  Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
and display information about the image
Climate diagram with temperature and rainfall

history

Antiquity

In the immediate vicinity of the city was the Roman settlement Theranda in the Moesia region of the Roman Empire .

middle Ages

Prizren as a city is first mentioned in Byzantine sources as the seat of a bishop at the beginning of the 11th century . A bull of the Emperor Basil II names Prizren as an eparchy subordinate to the Archdiocese of Ohrid . At that time it only comprised part of what is now Kosovo.

By 1216 at the latest, Prizren - until then under Byzantine rule - became part of the Serbian Empire . In the Serbian medieval empire of King Stefan Uroš IV. Dušan , Prizren was a trading center; The first mention of a Catholic church in Prizren also occurred during his reign. From 1330 to 1380 a number of Catholic bishops were appointed by Prizren. However, it is not known whether this appointment was purely nominal ( titular bishop ) or whether the appointed bishops ever visited their diocese . The toleration of a Catholic element in Prizren probably goes back to the presence of Croatian merchants from Dubrovnik ( Ragusa ), who opened a consulate here in 1332.

The Albanian national hero Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg founded the League of Lezha with some other Albanian and Montenegrin princes in 1444 , which was intended for the defense of the homeland of the Albanians and Montenegrins against the Ottoman conquest. The influence of power lay over all of present-day Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Epirus and West Macedonia. After many successful battles, Skanderbeg died and the league slowly began to fall apart. After a few less successful battles, the Ottomans were able to conquer the league's territories and incorporate them into their empire.

Ottoman period

Prizren around 1860

Prizren came to the Ottoman Empire in 1455 (other sources mention 1459) . The establishment of Ottoman rule meant a radical change in social and political conditions. The old government structures of the Serbian aristocrats were destroyed and the new Ottoman system was in effect in Prizren from then on. Among other things, this meant more religious freedom for the (Albanian) Catholics, which was more highly developed among the Muslim Ottomans compared to Serbian law.

In 1488 Prizren took over the capital function of a sanjak . In 1634, 12,000 Muslims, 600 Orthodox and 200 Catholics were registered in Prizren. In 1813 it was declared the official seat of a vilayet and when this authority was moved to Skopje in 1843 , Prizren resumed its old function as a sanjak center. In the course of the Tanzimat reforms of the Ottoman Empire in the administrative system, Prizren was again declared the capital of a Vilâyet in 1868 (see article Vilâyet Prizren ). In 1874 the Vilayet authorities were relocated once more. This time Pristina was declared the new capital of the Vilayets (see article Vilayet Kosovo ) and Prizren returned to the lower level of a sanjak. She held this task until the First Balkan War , when Serbian forces took the city on October 31, 1912.

During the 19th century Prizren was the second largest economic and trade center in the Albanian areas. At the end of this century there were around 1,500 shops in the city. The Ottoman yearbook of 1874 puts the population at that time at 44,000.

In the 18th and first half of the 19th century, Prizren was the historical location of the aristocratic Rrotlla family . These not only fought their local political opponents, but also claimed independence from the Ottoman central government. The Rrotlla ruled for about 100 years and gave the Prizren region a certain paschalik character .

On June 10, 1878, intellectuals and politicians from all Albanian areas founded the League of Prizren . They formed a transitional government headed by Ymer Prizreni . In this way the city became a center of the Albanian region at that time.

Modern times

After the First Balkan War in 1912/13 Kosovo fell with Prizren from the Ottoman Empire to the Kingdom of Serbia . At the end of November 1915, Austro-Hungarian troops occupied Prizren and vacated it in October 1918. After that the city became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (from 1929 Kingdom of Yugoslavia ). At the beginning of the Balkan campaign (Yugoslavia capitulated on April 17, 1941), Yugoslav troops were able to temporarily stop the Wehrmacht near Prizren . In the federal system of socialist Yugoslavia from 1945 Prizren came to the newly created republic of Serbia as part of the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo . From 1999 to 2008 the city belonged to the UN-administered province of Kosovo, which declared itself an independent republic on February 17, 2008. The Republic of Kosovo is recognized by 114 states.

During the Kosovo war , especially after the start of the NATO military intervention in 1999, large parts of the Albanian population fled Kosovo via the Vërmica border crossing to Kukës in Albania and to Tetovo in North Macedonia. After the end of the war, most of the refugees returned to Kosovo within a few weeks. As a result, around 97% of Serbs and 60% of Roma left the urban area. Today Prizren is almost completely populated by Albanians. During the war, numerous cultural monuments were also destroyed on both sides, such as the building of the Albanian League of Prizren by Serbs or Orthodox churches by Albanians. Today the Kosovar authorities are trying to get refugee minorities back.

On June 13, 1999, the German KFOR forces entered the city under the command of Brigadier General Fritz von Korff . The German troops moved into their headquarters, the Prizren field camp , in the former Yugoslav barracks on the eastern edge of the city, which they handed over to the Kosovar civil authorities on October 4, 2018 after nineteen years.

During the nationwide pogrom-like riots in March 2004 , which were primarily directed against the Serb minority in Kosovo, but also directed against other minorities, there was a particularly serious loss of cultural monuments in Prizren. On March 17, 2004, Albanians attacked, among other things, the former Serbian quarter Podkalaja (under the city castle) and completely destroyed it. Two Serbian Orthodox monasteries were also destroyed or damaged, including the Archangel Monastery , the Orthodox Seminary and five other sites.

population

With 85,119 inhabitants (2011 census), Prizren is the second largest city in Kosovo after Pristina .

The municipality of Prizren , which has 177,781 inhabitants, is also the second most populous municipality in Kosovar after the municipality of Pristina .

Ethnicities, religions and languages

The population in Prizren is still quite multicultural today . However, the ethnic groups and religions did not always live peacefully with one another and the conflicts that had occurred triggered several waves of refugees from the respective ethnic group in the course of the city's history. In Albanian history, Prizren was the birthplace of Albanian nationalism or the Albanian resistance against Ottoman rule. For many minorities in Kosovo, the city is the cultural and political center. Turkish, Bosnian and Roma parties have their headquarters in Prizren. For the Serbs, it plays a historically important role, especially in religious terms.

Albanians

The Albanians make up the largest ethnic group with 78.74 percent of the city's population (67,020 of 85,119 inhabitants according to the 2011 census). They profess Islam or Catholic Christianity and speak a Gegic dialect of Albanian .

Building of the League of Prizren

The Muslim Albanians are organized together with the other Muslim ethnic groups in the Islamic Community of Kosovo , which directs the Hodjas in the mosques , provides for the financing and maintenance of the Islamic institutions and the (voluntary) alms tax ( Arabic زكاة, DMG Zakāt ).

For their part, the Catholics are organized in the diocese of Prizren-Pristina . This is subordinate to the Pope and covers the entire territory of the Republic of Kosovo. The bishopric is Prizren as the Catholic center of the country.

Many Albanians speak Turkish and Bosnian or Serbian as their second and third language .

Turks

Turks have lived in Prizren for about five centuries. During the Ottoman period they enjoyed many privileges and Turkish was the official and lingua franca in the city for a long time. Even at the beginning of the 20th century, the majority of the city's elite spoke Turkish. The Turks make up 10.38 percent of the city's population (8,833 people). Most of them are Sunni Muslims.

Bosniaks

5.77 percent of the population are Bosniaks (4914 people). They are Sunni Muslims and use Bosnian as their standard language. Members of this ethnic group also live in some villages around Prizren.

Roma

The Roma settled in Prizren in the 14th century and form a smaller ethnic minority with 4.07 percent or 3466 people. The Kosovar Egyptians and Ashkali are also included in these figures . The Roma speak the Romani ; the Egyptians and Ashkali, on the other hand, can speak Albanian or Serbian or sometimes both languages ​​together. The three ethnic groups profess Sunni Islam exclusively.

Serbs

After the Kosovo war and the riots in Kosovo in 2004, only a few Serbs remained in Prizren and are now the smallest ethnic community in the city with a share of just 0.06 percent (47 people). However, the Serbs played an important role in the city's history. Prizren is the bishop's seat of the Raszien-Prizren Eparchy , a diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church , whose cathedral is the Church of Our Lady of Ljeviš .

Other ethnicities

On market days, people from northern Rahovec come to the city who speak Oravački , which is a mixture of Serbian, Albanian and Turkish loan words. The Gorans living in Dragash also have their own dialect. Another small minority are the Torbeschen , who linguistically and culturally resemble the Gorans. There are few reliable sources about the number of these ethnic groups.

development

Population development
census 1910 1913 1919 1921 1948 1953 1961 1971 1981 1991 2011
Residents 30,283 18,174 16,100 16,414 20,540 22,997 28,062 41,681 61,801 92,303 85.119

politics

Official seat of the municipal administration

During the Ottoman period, between the 15th century and 1913, Prizren was the capital of a sanjak of the same name ( Ottoman سنجاق Sancak ), which was further divided into Kazas and Nahiye . The governor of the sanjak was called Sancakbeği .

Since 2008, the municipality of Prizren (in Albanian Komuna , in Serbian Opština ) has been divided into 76 localities, including the city itself. The mayor and the municipal council are elected for the larger municipality every four years.

mayor

Mayor of the municipality of Prizren is Mytaher Haskuka from the Vetëvendosje party ! . In December 2017 he replaced Ramadan Muja from the PDK .

Town twinning

Prizren has partnered with three cities since the late 1960s :

Culture and sights

Buildings

View from the west over the landmarks of Prizren: fortress , Ottoman stone bridge and Sinan Pasha Mosque. In the foreground flows the Bistrica (Alb. Lumëbardhi ).

In the course of history, the Ottomans in particular left their mark on the cityscape, there are many buildings from the Middle Ages and modern times that are attractive to tourists, such as the Halveti-Tekke of the Chalwati- Sufi order.

bridges

The Ottoman stone arch bridge over the Bistrica ( alb.Lumëbardh )

One of the city's landmarks is the old Ottoman stone bridge (Alb. Ura e gurit ; Serb. Камеңи мост / Kameni most ; Turkish: Taş köprüsu ). It connects the old districts of Prizren and spans the Bistrica (alb. Lumëbardh ). There are almost no historical sources about the construction period. Judging by the material, it was completed at the end of the 15th century. It has three arches, of which the middle one is the largest. In the 1950s, the exterior of the bridge was changed as the road was widened. It remained in this state until November 17, 1979 when massive amounts of water flooded the city and leveled the bridge to the ground. Since many residents had an emotional relationship with the bridge and the cityscape could not be imagined without it, the exact restoration began in the following months. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on June 5, 1982, and after five months of construction, the bridge was reopened on November 17, 1982 - exactly three years after its destruction. It has been shining in its old splendor since then and is a magnet for many tourists.

Another architecturally interesting stone arch bridge is the Suzi Çelebiu Bridge near the mosque of the same name. It was a donation from its namesake and was built in 1513. The townspeople also call it Ura e Tabakhanes , after the former tanners' quarter that was right next to the bridge. Although most of the tanneries have now disappeared, more modern workshops have recently started practicing this craft to commemorate the former district. The arch bridge is located downstream from the Ura e gurit .

fortress

The fortress hill of the fortress of Prizren , east of the old town, has long been a strategically important base and offers its visitors a panoramic view of the city, the plains and the mountain range. The fortress walls enclose an area of ​​around 1.5 hectares and give the fortress an egg-shaped appearance in north-south expansion. The fortress is 525 meters above sea level.

Archaeologists found out during excavation work in 2004 and 2009-2011 that the place had been inhabited by humans since the Bronze Age . Even Iron Age , Roman and late antique finds were made. The late antique historian Prokopios of Caesarea (500-562) mentions in his work De Aedificiis ( Eng . Buildings) within Dardania a fortress called Petrizen . The researchers assume that it is this fortress.

The archaeological excavation work began as early as 1969 and over time traces of medieval (11th to 15th centuries) and Ottoman residential buildings were found inside the fortress. The Ottomans also built a hammam, a mosque and military facilities. The latter were used until 1912 and since then the fortress has been in a continuous process of decline. Individual conservation and renovation work only began in 2008.

Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help

The Roman Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (alb. Katedralja e Zonjës Ndihmëtare ) in the southwest of the old town was built in 1870 by Archbishop Dario Bucciarelli . Toma Glasnović later added the bell tower. The cathedral is part of a whole religious complex, which also includes a Catholic school, a priest and nunnery, the bishopric, the parish building and other buildings.

Serbian Orthodox Churches

The Ljeviška Cathedral of Our Lady is the only surviving medieval Serbian city cathedral. The cathedral is the seat of the Raszien-Prizren eparchy . It was built around 1306 and contains well-preserved wall paintings. During the riots in March 2004, she was also the target of attacks by the rioters. Some of their most important frescoes were destroyed in the process. However, unlike other Serbian Orthodox churches in Prizren, the fire did not affect the entire building. In 2006 it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List and, because of the difficult security situation in Kosovo, to the Red List of World Heritage in Danger. Many other monasteries can be found in the city. These include the 14th century Archangel monastery that burned down during the March riots in 2004 .

Mosques

The Gazi Mehmet Pasha Mosque with Türbe on the left and the League of Prizren building on the right

Ottoman architecture shapes the cityscape to this day. The Sinan Pasha Mosque ( Xhamia e Sinan Pashës / Sinan Pašina Džamija ) in Prizren has the highest minaret in the Balkans. There are also smaller mosques such as the Saraçëve Mosque , the Myderiz Ali Efendi Mosque , the Maksut Pascha Mosque ( Xhamia e Maksut Pashës ), the Çoraga Mosque / Haxhi Ramadani Mosque ( Xhamia e Çoragës / Xhamia e Haxhi Ramadanit ) and the Gazi Mehmet Pasha Mosque / Bajrakli Mosque ( Xhamia e Gazi Mehmet Pashës / Xhamia e Bajraklisë ). The latter is also the most ornate mosque in Prizren, dating from 1566. The League of Prizren was also founded there. Nearby is the Gazi Mehmet Pascha Hamam ( Hamami i Gazi Mehmet Pashës ) from 1573. It is one of the three largest hammams in the Balkans, next to the hammams in Sarajevo and those in Skopje .

Museums

The clock tower ( Sahat Kula ) above the Archaeological Museum in the western old town

The Archaeological Museum is the most important cultural institution in Prizren. Housed in a hamam built in 1498, it shows the finds from the region of the city, i.e. from the large communities of Prizren, Dragash , Rahovec and Suhareka . The specimens are exhibited in different rooms, which in the time periods early Neolithic , Chalcolithic , Bronze Age , Iron Age are divided, Roman period, early Middle Ages and late Middle Ages. The museum opened on November 17, 1975 and was partially renovated in 2008. The 15th century hammam was ordered to be built by a certain Shemsudin Ahmed Beu and served as a bathhouse until the 19th century when a clock tower ( Sahat Kula ) was built on it. From then on, the building was in a continuous process of decay. It served as a warehouse, dwelling or stable for the residents. In the 1960s, restoration and conservation work finally began in full.

Handicrafts

The arts and crafts in Prizren were closely linked to urban development. The processing of metal, animal skin, textiles, wood and, more recently, food and services were and still are among the most important areas. The handicraft reached its peak in the second half of the 19th century. At that time there were 124 different trades in 1384 workshops in the city. The most widespread professions were gunsmith ( alb.dyfekgjiu ), goldsmith ( kujumgjiu ), tanner ( tabaku ), saddler ( saraçi ), blacksmith ( farkëtari ), kessler ( kazanxhiu ), grinder ( briskagjiu ), tailor ( terziu ) and farrier ( nallbani ) .

With the technical development and the transition from manufactories to modern industry, interest in this craft has waned, so that many of these professions no longer exist. Nevertheless, today some masters make their copies by hand and were thus able to save the handicraft from its destruction.

Goldsmithing

The goldsmiths are among the most famous masters of Prizren. Historians even wrote about their craft. Objects such as tobacco boxes, pipes, rings, bracelets, necklaces, tablets, mugs and cups were richly decorated. The goldsmiths also had their own district in Prizren, which is now known as Çarshia e Kujunxhillëkut .

Grinding art

The craft of the grinder is one of the oldest professions in the city. They always worked closely with the gunsmiths. The latter even switched from guns to grinders once when gun production in Prizren ended abruptly. There is a small exhibition of old specimens near the old stone arch bridge.

Cultural event

Screening during the Dokufest film festival

Many events and occasions have a long tradition in Prizren. This includes the Festivali i Këngës Qytetare "Zambaku i Prizrenit" , at which chansons , ballads and serenades have been sung since 1986 . Mostly they are Albanian, Turkish or Bosniak songs. The event is held annually in July and lasts for 10 days. At the same time as the festival , the Fluturat music festival takes place for children . Another music festival is the NGOM Fest , which has been held in June since 2011 and lasts for three days. Numerous bands and DJs from Kosovo and other countries perform there . The Dokufest , an international film festival for documentary and short films, has been held annually since 2002 . In 2012 the festival, at which the films are mainly shown on open-air screens, had 20,000 visitors. The Hasi Jehon Folklore Festival is another musical event held in the village of Gjonaj, 15 kilometers away in the historic Has region . Albanian folklore groups from Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia will perform, presenting Albanian dances and national costumes . Hasi Jehon takes place annually in May for three days since 1976.

Every year in May, the Turkish community of Prizrens organizes the traditional Sanatla Uyanmak festival, where the Turkish culture is presented not only from Prizren, but also from Turkey . The event is accompanied by music, culinary specialties and folk dances.

A festival popular with comic artists and cartoonists is the Festivali i Stripit dhe Cartoonës , where international artists also take part. At this annual event in October, the artists exchange ideas and present their works in the art gallery of the Gazi Mehmed Pascha Hamam.

In the village of Zym every year during the month of October the "Meetings of Gjeçovi" (Alb. Takimet e Gjeçovit ) are held. In this literary, cultural and scientific festival, the participants commemorate the Albanian Catholic priest Shtjefën Gjeçovi , who was known for his efforts to promote Albanian culture.

The 40 Bunar Fest , which takes place every year in June, provides plenty of entertainment , where volunteer participants go on rafting boats on the Bistrica and hold competitions. With this somewhat extreme sport, the organizers want to sensitize the residents and make them aware of their conservation of the river. The event is often accompanied by music.

In May, the central square in the old town (alb. Shatërvan ) is transformed into a meeting place for many vintage car fans. The 25 or so participants present their 32 cars that are at least 40 years old at the Oldtimer Festival .

Sports

Various sports clubs are active in the city. About football , basketball , handball , tennis , gymnastics , light- and heavy athletics and futsal , there are a whole range of sports that are popular in Prizren. There are other sports clubs in the fields of climbing , fishing , aeronautics , bird watching and pigeon breeding .

In martial arts there are clubs for karate , wrestling , judo , boxing and bodybuilding . Further, mountain biking , motocross , motorbike , kart , vintage , and especially mountaineering popular leisure activities. Prizren is therefore, together with Peja, the center of national mountain sports.

The most famous club in Prizren is the KF Liria football club , which occasionally takes part in international tournaments with its youth teams. The club has only won the Kupa e Kosovës Cup three times in its 70-year history .

Infrastructure

The infrastructure in the city is considered good. The main roads connecting the larger towns with the city are paved. The water supply is ensured in the city and in only 27 other villages. There are no sewage systems in the villages and the electricity supply is still a problem, especially in winter and in the villages.

To the west of Prizren near Zhur , the construction of a hydropower plant was planned, which would be the largest in the country, have a capacity of 305 megawatts and produce 400 gigawatt hours of electricity per year. The water for this was to be supplied from reservoirs to be built in the Opoja region . However, this project was discarded for reasons of low profitability .

Healthcare

The regional hospital in Prizren provides services to approximately 250,000 people. It has 778 employees, including 155 doctors, and is supplemented by an emergency room and an intensive care unit. There are also 40 health centers spread across the community. They employ 475 people.

education

Elementary school " Abdyl Frashëri "

Prizren is the seat of the Pedagogical Faculty of the University of Pristina as well as two universities called the University of Prizren .

In the municipality there are 48 primary schools with 29,879 students and 1565 teachers (2011/2012), six secondary schools with 9397 students and 504 teachers. The (not compulsory) kindergartens are organized privately.

traffic

Streets

The European route 851 from Pristina to Shkodra in Albania runs through Prizren. There are other important road connections to Gjakova and Kaçanik .

In November 2011 the Autostrada R 7 was opened to traffic. It starts in the south at Vërmica and leads north past Prizren to Pristina to Truda . The construction of a motorway from Prizren to Tetovo in North Macedonia is in planning.

The extension of the Autostrada R 7 to the west is the Autostrada A1 . Since 2010 it has led from the Morina / Vërmica border crossing as a four-lane motorway via Kukës and through the Mirdita region to the centers on the Albanian coast. This reduces the travel time from Kosovo to Tirana by several hours.

railroad

A railway branch line from Klina has been closed.

Personalities

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Postcodes for the city of Prizren. (PDF; 66 kB) (No longer available online.) In: Posta e Kosovës . Archived from the original on October 10, 2007 ; Retrieved June 8, 2012 (English, Albanian, Serbian).
  2. ↑ New decree regarding license plates for Kosovo. (PDF; 1.3 MB) In: Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Kosovo. Retrieved June 8, 2012 (English, Albanian, Serbian, Article 24, p. 25).
  3. ↑ Wolfram Weischet, Wilfried Endlicher: Regional climatology, part 2 The old world . BG Teubner, Stuttgart 2000, p. 213
  4. ↑ hidmet.gov.rs Official series of measurements by the Hidrometeoroloski Savez Srbije for the regular period 1961-1990.
  5. ↑ ibid. Wolfram Weischet, Wilfried Endlicher, 2000: p. 136
  6. ↑ ibid. Wolfram Weischet, Wilfried Endlicher 2000: Comparison of the regionalization of the Mediterranean area, Albania from p. 216
  7. ↑ With 100 hours of sunshine in January, Prizren has almost twice as many hours of sunshine as December with 54.
  8. ↑ ibid. Wolfram Weischet, Wilfried Endlicher 2000: p. 217
  9. ↑ Climate and current weather information. In: Holidaycheck.ch. Retrieved June 8, 2012 .
  10. ↑ James Wiseman:  Theranda (Prizren) Yugoslavia . In: Richard Stillwell et al. a. (Ed.): The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1976, ISBN 0-691-03542-3 . "A Roman town approx. 76 km SW of Pristina on the Bistrica river in the region of Kosovo and Metohija. It lay on the direct route from Lissos in Macedonia to Naissus in Moesia Superior. The town continued to exist during the 4th to 6th c. but was of far greater significance during the mediaeval period and was even capital of Serbia for a short time during the 14th c. "
  11. ^ Robert Elsie: Historical Dictionary of Kosovo . 2nd, revised edition. tape 79 from Historical Dictionaries of Europe. Scarecrow Press, 2010, pp. 136 ( online version ). Online version ( Memento from April 7, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ Prizren at the time of the Ottomans. (No longer available online.) In: Prizren 360 °. Archived from the original on March 10, 2012 ; Retrieved June 8, 2012 (Albanian).
  13. ^ Hermann Stegemann: History of the war . Volume 3, p. 478 f.
  14. ^ The Austro-Hungarian Army Report of October 11, 1918: Prizren and Pristina cleared ( online )
  15. ↑ The German Campaings in the Balkans (Spring 1941) . In: US Army Center of Military History . November 1953. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  16. ^ Gerhard Schreiber , Bernd Stegemann , Detlef Vogel: Germany and the Second World War . Volume 3, p. 505 ( online )
  17. ↑ on the withdrawal of the Wehrmacht see History of Kosovo # Second World War
  18. ↑ a b c d e f g Popullsia e komunës së Prizrenit sipas vendbanimit, gjinisë dhe etnicitetit 2011. Statistics Agency of Kosovo, accessed on May 17, 2017 (Albanian).
  19. ↑ a b c d e The population of Prizren. (No longer available online.) In: “Prizren 360 °”. Archived from the original on June 4, 2012 ; Retrieved June 9, 2012 (Albanian).
  20. ↑ a b c d Profile of the municipality of Prizren. In: OSCE . Retrieved June 8, 2012 .
  21. ↑ Sheradin Berisha: Ndarja administrative në Qarkun e Prizrenit - në vitin 1919. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 24, 2008 ; Retrieved May 29, 2018 (Albanian).
  22. ↑ Kosovo censuses. In: pop-stat.mashke.org. Retrieved May 3, 2018 .
  23. ↑ Betohet kryetari i komunës së Prizrenit z. Mytaher Haskuka. (No longer available online.) In: rks-gov.net. December 22, 2017, archived from the original on December 23, 2017 ; Retrieved December 22, 2017 (Albanian).
  24. ↑ bingen.de
  25. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of November 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  26. ↑ kusadasi.bel.tr
  27. ↑ Ottoman stone arch bridge. (No longer available online.) In: “Prizren 360 °”. Archived from the original on July 8, 2014 ; Retrieved June 8, 2012 (Albanian).
  28. ↑ The Suzi Çelebiu Bridge. (No longer available online.) In: “Prizren 360 °”. Formerly in the original ; Retrieved June 8, 2012 (Albanian).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / prizren360.com  
  29. ^ The fortress of Prizren. (No longer available online.) In: “Prizren 360 °”. Archived from the original on April 29, 2012 ; Retrieved June 8, 2012 (Albanian).
  30. ↑ Cathedral of the Helping Woman. (No longer available online.) In: “Prizren 360 °”. Formerly in the original ; Retrieved June 8, 2012 (Albanian).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / prizren360.com  
  31. ^ Archaeological Museum. (No longer available online.) In: “Prizren 360 °”. Archived from the original on July 8, 2014 ; Retrieved June 9, 2012 (Albanian).
  32. ↑ Crafts in Prizren. (No longer available online.) In: “Prizren 360 °”. Archived from the original on June 4, 2012 ; Retrieved June 8, 2012 (Albanian).
  33. ↑ Goldsmithing in Prizren. (No longer available online.) In: “Prizren 360 °”. Archived from the original on July 6, 2014 ; Retrieved June 8, 2012 (Albanian).
  34. ↑ The Prizren Grinders. (No longer available online.) In: “Prizren 360 °”. Archived from the original on July 6, 2014 ; Retrieved June 8, 2012 (Albanian).
  35. ^ The Festivali i Këngës Qytetare "Zambaku i Prizrenit" . (No longer available online.) In: “Prizren 360 °”. Archived from the original on July 8, 2014 ; Retrieved June 8, 2012 (Albanian).
  36. ↑ NGOM festival. (No longer available online.) In: “Prizren 360 °”. Archived from the original on July 6, 2014 ; Retrieved June 8, 2012 (Albanian).
  37. ↑ Web site Ngom hard . (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on May 9, 2012 ; Retrieved June 8, 2012 (English, unknown language, Albanian).
  38. ↑ Marcus Engert: The DOKUFEST in Prizren / Kosovo - a film festival in the city without a cinema. detektor.fm, August 4, 2012
  39. ↑ Hasi Jehon -Folklore Festival. (No longer available online.) In: “Prizren 360 °”. Archived from the original on July 8, 2014 ; Retrieved June 8, 2012 (Albanian).
  40. ↑ Sanatla Uyanmak. (No longer available online.) In: “Prizren 360 °”. Archived from the original on July 8, 2014 ; Retrieved June 8, 2012 (Albanian).
  41. ↑ Comic and Caricature Festival. (No longer available online.) In: “Prizren 360 °”. Archived from the original on July 8, 2014 ; Retrieved June 8, 2012 (Albanian).
  42. ↑ Takimet e Gjeçovit. (No longer available online.) In: “Prizren 360 °”. Archived from the original on July 8, 2014 ; Retrieved June 8, 2012 (Albanian).
  43. ↑ 40 Bunar Festival. (No longer available online.) In: “Prizren 360 °”. Archived from the original on July 8, 2014 ; Retrieved June 8, 2012 (Albanian).
  44. ↑ Oldtimer Festival. (No longer available online.) In: “Prizren 360 °”. Archived from the original on July 8, 2014 ; Retrieved June 8, 2012 (Albanian).
  45. ↑ Sports and leisure in Prizren. (No longer available online.) In: “Prizren 360 °”. Archived from the original on June 4, 2012 ; Retrieved June 8, 2012 (Albanian).
  46. ↑ Në dyshim ndërtimi i hidrocentralit në Zhur. In: telegrafi.com. August 20, 2012, Retrieved May 21, 2017 (Albanian).
  47. ↑ Lajm: Autostrada Tetovë-Prizren do të ndërtohet me 400 milionë euro të investitorëve arabë . April 9, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2017.