Carried away by Serbian culture and history

Imagine you are very, very interested in something: in French fashion, in mammals of the Gobi desert, in Ecuadorian dressmaking... Usually, our subjects of interest spark a lot of dreams. For example, as a child when I was carried away by American history, particularly by the Colonial period, I kept on dreaming of visiting again the USA, the country where I was born, the country with so great history... This dream is still waiting to become true. Probably the reason I still have not made this forgotten dream come true is because later in my life, I turned my eyes towards Russia and Eastern Europe. A few years ago, I got fascinated by the Balkan region as "that's where so many crises have begun, that's where people hate each other so much, I want to know why!" The rest is history (sorry for a cliche).

During the past several years, I have spent some time studying the history and culture of the Serb nation. But so far, I have been stuck to studying the post-Assassination of Franz Ferdinand era. While this period is definitely interesting (not least because of the huge legacy it has left to all of us), I've got a lot more to learn: Serbs are believed to be one of the oldest nations in Europe with a history of a thousand years. No wonder that since my arrival to The Colony aka Kosovo and Metohija (as the Serbs call the region), I have been carried away by my interest in the Serbs. This time, I don't have to dream: living in the cradle of the Serb nation, I am in the perfect place to "practice" my interest almost whenever I want. All I have to do is to be patient enough to wait for the next bus... 

Currently, I am manifesting my fascination in the Serb nation two ways: by photography and by collecting oral histories of ordinary people. I have already visited quite a few historical Serbian sites across Kosovo, but there are still dozens, maybe hundreds of places waiting for my visit. My aim is to capture at least one photo of every single Serb site, whether historical or not. Because the Serb nation is largely identified through their religion, Orthodox Christianity, majority of my photographs will be of religious buildings and monuments including churches, monasteries and cemeteries. Here are some of my photos, for more, pleas click here to visit my Flickr account.

Church of St Demetrius (or "The Gingerbread Church") at Kosovska Mitrovica.

Ancient hatreds of the Balkans: destroyed tombstone at the south side of Mitrovica.

Ancient hatreds continued: the remains of the Church of St Nicholas at Prizren. Like the
tombstone above, this church was destroyed during the Kosovo riots of March 2004.

A landmark site: Gracanica Monastery

Some of the remains of the medieval Monastery of the Holy Archangels, located at Prizren.

My adventures sometimes get dangerous. But luckily I've got the Mother of the God and
 Holy Michael the Archangel watching over me :)

After almost four weeks

It's been almost four weeks since I left Tirana for Pristina. All I can say is I have had absolutely great time in Pristina, the beautiful capital city of The Colony aka Republic of Kosovo. I want to say a big Thank You for the amazing people at Balkan Sunflowers for allowing me to come here and work for your fabulous organization. A good start - a good finish (or that's what I hope most!)

My time in Pristina has truly brought a radical change in my life: for the first time in many, many years I am waking up at seven in the morning to start working at half past eight. Come on, we all know how it is to be a student at a university with 24/7 library, how upsetting is that for almost anyone's sleeping patterns... Me no more a student, me no more allowed to sleep til midday. Almost every morning starts with a cup of coffee, usually Turkish coffee:

Enjoying the morning coffee at Ma Belle.

As usual, when moving into a new country, life will not be all about work, but also about adventures. So far I have visited quite a few places around The Colony, for example:

Just off Pristina is Gazimestan, the monument commemorating the Battle of
Kosovo that occurred back in 1389. The site is heavily guarded, which reveals
a lot about the extremely unstable security situation in The Colony.

Kosovska Mitrovica, a city infamous for being strictly divided into the Serb
North and Albanian South. In the picture there is the most famous landmark
of Mitrovica, St. Demetrius Church.

Mountains around the city of Pejë (or Pec) near the border of Montenegro.

Prizren, an old Ottoman city in Southern Kosovo. Kind of "Small Sarajevo",
do you agree?

For more photographs of The Colony and other places around the Balkans, please click the link below to visit my new Flickr account:

Elza Ivanovic "Finkinja"