Crucified Kosovo

A publication by Raska and Prizren Orthodox Diocese documenting the post war systematic destruction of the Christian Serb Orthodox heritage in Kosovo and Metohija. More than 100 churches and monasteries have been destroyed or desecratedby Kosovo Albanian extremists despite the presence of UN Mission and NATO troops in Kosovo.

Introductory word

by His Holiness Patriarch Pavle

This humble publication is our cry and appeal to the Christian and civilized world. It is distressing to learn that in the years of the greatest Christian Jubilee, at the end of two milleniums of Christianity, Christian churches are still being destroyed -- not in a war but in the time of peace guaranteed by the international community. We hope that these photos of the destroyed and desecrated Orthodox shrines will stir the consciousness of those who are in a position to stop the crimes and we believe that those who already stood up against one evil will not remain mere witnesses passively watching another kind of evil take place before their eyes.

We also wish to make our appeal to all Kosovo Albanians, who undoubtedly see their future in coexistence with the Serbs, to resist and not allow the acts of insanity to happen.

In Kosovo and Metohija there will be no victory of humanity and justice while revenge and disorder prevail. No one has a moral right to celebrate victory complacently for as long as one kind of evil replaces another and the freedom of one people rests upon the slavery of another.

Patriarch Pavle

Archbishop of Athens and All Greece His Beatitude Kyr Christodulos
Appeals for Kosovo to the British Prime Minister Blair Link

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Visit our local page on destruction of our shrines

Crucified Heritage
Prof. Ljubisa Folic

Destroyed Heritage
More than 100 churches have been destroyed by Moslem Kosovo Albanian militants since Nato troops arrived to Kosovo. Churches which survived centuries are being devastated amidst the XXI century Europe

The church of the Holy Virgin in Musutiste was built in 1315 and was destroyed in 1999

The monastery of St. Mark was built in 1417 and was destroyed in 1999

The church of St. Nicholas was built in the 16th century and was destroyed in 1999

From Kabul to Kosovo

The barbaric destruction of the gigantic Buddhas in Afganistan has provoked a justified hue of worldwide protests. Believers and nonbelievers alike, all civilized people are recoiling in pain at this intolerable assault on culture. It is not only an attack on the artistic heritage of mankind, but also on human history and our collective memory.

Sadly, as I write these lines, the Talibans have already reduced to a pile of rubble the sandstone cliffs where pious Buddhist monks infused a soul so long ago. None of the great powers has dared to send troops into the Afghan's hornet's nest to save those priceless treasures. Even if, to some extent, this failure can be justified by the wish to save human lives, one cannot understand how, in Kosovo, in the heart of Europe, in the presence of U.N. troops, the West is unflinchingly witnessing the destruction of the monuments of a civilization which, in the final analysis, is one of its own. Who can believe commanders of the United Nations' Kosovo Protection Force (KFOR) - an army of 40,000 soldiers and 2,000 policemen deployed in an area no larger than a single department of France- who say they do not have sufficient means to protect the Serb communities from Albanian extremists nor to stop the destruction of almost a hundred * churches and monasteries, some of which were adorned with magnificent frescoes dating back to the Middle Ages? How is it that the same western leaders and intellectuals who only yesterday were demonizing the Serbs with allegations of all crimes imaginable, are so cowardly silent today?

by Negovan Rajic

How to save our centuries long heritage from Kosovo Albanian barbarism?

Serbian Vice President Mr. Nebojsa Covic and Mrs. Mirjana Menkovic
the head of the MNEMOSYNE NGO. Mrs. Menkovic is displaying photos and other materials documenting the destruction of Serb heritage in Kosovo and Metohija. Belgrade, Feb. 27 2002.