Kosovo's Orthodox monasteries, from Dečani to Draganac

For me, the Orthodox monasteries are the strongest cultural reason to visit Kosovo. Four are on UNESCO’s list, and around them sits a network of smaller churches and convents protected by law. Here’s how they fit together, what each official source says and how I’d approach a visit.

The UNESCO four

UNESCO groups four buildings into a single site, the Medieval Monuments in Kosovo. It inscribed Decani Monastery first, in 2004, and in 2006 added Our Lady of Ljeviš in Prizren, the Patriarchate of Peć and Gračanica Monastery. In the same year the whole site went onto its List of World Heritage in Danger, where it remains.

UNESCO sees in all four the Byzantine and Romanesque church culture of the Balkans from the 13th to the 17th century. Dečani was built in the mid-14th century for the Serbian king Stefan Dečanski and serves as his mausoleum. The Patriarchate of Peć is a group of four domed churches with wall paintings, and the frescoes in its Church of the Holy Apostles date from the 13th century. Those at Ljeviš, from the early 14th, set the style of the so-called Palaeologan Renaissance. I go into more detail in UNESCO sites in Kosovo.

The Special Protective Zones law

In 2008 Law 03/L-039 created protected zones around the monasteries and churches of the Serbian Orthodox Church, plus other places of historical value, sorted into groups. Eighteen have boundaries drawn on an attached map, including the UNESCO four, Devič, Sokolica, Draganac, Banjska, Zočište, the Holy Archangels and the whole village of Velika Hoča. Eight more churches and monasteries get a 100 m ring, and fourteen get 50 m.

Inside those zones the law bans industry, mining and building that clears woodland, and requires the Serbian Orthodox Church’s agreement for bars, hotels, anything taller than the monastery, and public events. On the ground that shows in one obvious way, which is that many monasteries have no cafés or shops nearby.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Peja before prices climb.

Lesser-known sites

Beyond the UNESCO list, a few places justify a detour if the subject grabs you. Holy Archangels Monastery, 2.5 km from Prizren in the Lumbardhi gorge, is the ruin of the monastery credited to Stefan Dušan in 1343 by the DTK, Kosovo’s official heritage register. Sokolica, about 10 km east of Zvečan, is dedicated to the Virgin and dated by the DTK to the 14th or 15th century.

In the east, the same database records St Nicholas’s Monastery at Strazhë, from the 16th century, roughly 8 km north of Gjilan, and the 14th-century monasteries of Moçar and Hajnoc in Kamenica. Draganac, near Gjilan, is still a working community, and Binač, in Viti, is a ruin with its own protected zone.

Visiting

No official source publishes opening times, admission or dress codes for these monasteries. I’d treat them like any active place of worship, which means going in daylight, covering shoulders and knees, keeping quiet, asking before getting the camera out and accepting that sometimes the gate will be shut.

Two pieces of official advice are worth knowing. The FCDO warns that terrorists could strike in Kosovo, with places of worship, churches among them, on the list of possible targets. For Banjska and Sokolica in the north, it also warns of a risk of protests in those municipalities and says conditions can change quickly, so check its Kosovo page before you set off. And bring travel insurance, since your GHIC is no use here.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Peja and choose by the reviews.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Peja before prices climb.