Novo Berde
Medieval pride and all proof of old regional civilization, is left at the bottom of the Municipalities of Kosovo. Such is the case of Novo berda. Novo berda or Nojberg, as it was called by Saxon crafts man, was established as a municipality quite late, but as a city or an inhabited place, it could be easily said that it has been one since the 9th century A.D.. The construction of the place and the castle as well, began between the 9th and 12th century, at the time when the Byzantine Empire ruled over these areas. Underground riches that the region, where Novo berda is located today, used to have, were the main reasons for formation of this town. This uphill valley was rich with gold and silver, commodities that enabled Novo Berde, a European fame and an emperor’s reality. Today the only remaining wealth of Novo Berde, is the cultural heritage that has been left to the mercy of God. Unknown and illegal persons continue to search for the Treasure in the fortress of Novo Berda, a city which has been a protected cultural heritage for over 50 years now. The treasure hunters, who usually act at night and search for "gold" with metal detectors, have become a real concern to the inhabitants and the Institute for Protection of Historical Monuments.
The Ministry of Culture has drafted several regulations, still it seems asthough plans to protect the cultural heritage remain only good intentions on paper, whereas reality shows to be the total opposite.
The cultural heritage serves as evidence to this society’s and this country’s identity. Losing it would be an irreplaceable and severe loss of the intangible attributes of this country and its people. Empirical experience shows that three meaningful momentums could be extracted with regard to the protection of cultural heritage. First of all, he who trades with it’s nation’s material culture, deepens his pockets, harms his consciousness and reduces to poverty the mind and the past of the needed – seller. Secondly, he who deliberately ruins his nation’s material culture, is a barbarian, but if he does so by accident he is a fool. Finally, he who shares with the enemy things belonging to the treasury of the material culture is harmful, and if he delivers those goods or fumbles through the treasury on or underground he shall be barred from his people
The Roman writer Lucrecius Carus said 2000 years ago that "A nation which does not know of its past is like a newborn, it knows nothing!" Cultural, material and spiritual heritage is a way towards gaining that knowledge. Therefore, it needs to be sought, protected and presented. Novo Berda is the best example of how this cultural heritage is not being protected. The municipality of Novo Berda is considered to be one of the poorest, yet the wealthiest when it comes to its multithenicity, best shown by the many foundations of the churches and mosques. Today, symbols in Albanian, Serbian and English denote that Novo Berda is a protected site for its cultural heritage - since 1960 the Yugoslav authorities have labled this place as being of distinct importance. Just like in fairy tales, irresponsible people have dug holes of 3 meter deep in their quest of the lost jar with gold. Worrisome is the harm caused by the holes dug and the destruction caused by these clandestine criminal groups, who in search of old coins with areceological value, destroy so many pieces of the cultural heritage in this region.
The digging has alarmed the Intitute for the Protection of Monuments of Cultural Heritage. Haxhi Mehmetaj says that these diggings by these irresponsible people are ruining the cultural and archeological heritage. "Each clandestine attempt to excavate is illegal to us, it damages the archeological layers, it damages the heritage, which is not only ours but belongs to the world, because all monuments created by mankind are a heritage belonging to mankind."
The municipality of Novo Berda has expressed its remorse that even the people who have come to rebuild this country have been destroying it. Four UNMIK officials were caughts digging in an attempt to find the archeological treasure at the medieval castle of Novoberde, east Kosovo. The guard of the castle, who works only during the day, spotted these police officers and warned them that digging was prohibited, yet they just ignored him. The UNMIK police officers that according to the Director of the Institute were of Ukrainian origin, using a metal detector had dug 28 holes that according to the pattern. "I saw that they had been digging and had found some old coins, I warned them in Albanian that digging was not allowed, they ignored me and confiscated my mobile phone"
The Institute and the Municipality do not have the necessary financial means to employ more guards that would look after this protected heritage. One guard to protect a region of 120 acres is certainly not sufficient and will not be able to prevent it from being assaulted by treasure haunters.
The mayor of Novo Berda, Bajrush Ymeri, has requested from the SRSG, Joachim Rücker that the necessary measures be taken against the UNMIK officials. They have expressed their remorse that these UNMIK officials have been caught in such an illegal activity, and have certainly expressed their disappointment that it was the people who should be protecting this country and guarding the rule of law that were harming it and breaking the law. "The municipality of Novo Berda condemns this scandalous act of the UNMIK officials, who through such illegal activity have harmed and damaged the cultural heritage of this municipality"
This press release does not seem to have bothered the authorities of the UNMIK administration. The UNMIK media department, DPI, says that they have no answer regarding the case and that it is still being investigated Historians believe that the cultural heritage has been used for political matters, to be more exact it was used to construct false historical rights of the Serbs over Kosovo:
"Kosovo’s heritage is being confronted with many challenges among which these three: 1) Using cultural heritage as a means of political pressure by Serbia, 2) non-professionalism 3) (No) Approach of UNMIK towards cultural heritage until 2004. Not to underestimate the other challenges, it is necessary to state that with regard to cultural heritage Kosovo is mainly burdened by its political challenge, I believe that where there is politics involved there is no such thing as real protection of heritage.
The Institute for the Protection of Historical Monuments has asserted its concern because the UNMIK officers have been brought to Kosovo to serve for the protection of this country, its people and its heritage and they act totally against what their duty is by robbing it. "I have spoken to an UNMIK police officer, but he was trying to reconstruct the case, above all he has presented me with some ridiculous objects that he has found such as bullet shells from the Second World War, totally useless shells and new coins, whereas the guard is telling me a different story. The guard says that he has seen some medieval coins, he recognized them cause he is experienced and knows the difference, he says he has also seen earth pots, copper objects and other things"
The Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic Of Kosovo are drafting a plan to protect objects of the cultural heritage. Budgetary implications seem to be a challenge for these two ministries; they are seeking to cooperate to realize these plans. While other archeological sites and the castle of Novo Berda risks losing that little prestige/value that has remained, the deputy Minister of Culture says that they do not yet know which objects will be preserved. "We have not yet received a register of the monuments which need to be protected urgently. The Ministry of Culture is working in that direction, drafting a plan of the monuments that need to be prioritorized for protection"
At the Institute for the Protection of Monuments they believe that it is the citizens that encourage others to hunt the urban legends of the Balkans.about treasures and jars filled with gold. The Institute is asking the people to stop digging, because there is no such thing as a treasure:
"It would truly be a coincidence if someone would find a treasure. We have made
so many archeological excavations for years and years. The last of those took
place in 2002-2003 and we have finally managed to convince the people that we
haven’t found neither silver nor gold. These diggings have lasted for 2 to 3
months, this should serve as evidence that there is no such thing as a hidden
treasure and that it is pure coincidence if someone happens to find old coins. This
means that people should realize that all the digging, all the trouble that they go
through, the stress of being caught is really not worth it as these is no jar filled with gold, and eventually they will be caught and punished as being criminals,
which will happen for certain because we are determined to bring an end to this
legend"
Like in many eastern European countries, we in Kosovo, too, lack the contemporary system of protecting our cultural heritage. These problems did not come to exist in the past years they have been existent since the time of Ex-Yugoslavia. After the Second World War, Kosovo came to be part of Yugoslavia. It became an autonomous entity within the Republic of Serbia. The 1999 conflict brought about many damages, among those hundreds were of cultural value. When the Kumonaovo Agreement was reached between NATO and the Serb army that arranged for the Yugoslav paramilitary to be withdrawn from Kosovo, many objects of cultural heritage were stolen and even with the attempt of the internationals who tried to negotiate a return of these objects, they remain in the wrong hands. Even after the arrival of the international community in Kosovo, UNMIK – NATO and the EU, the protection of cultural heritage has not been consolidated. The issue has become even more serious after the riots of 17 March, 2004. The riots took place after 3 children lost their lives in the Ibar River in Mitrovica, North Kosovo. The following days, many churches and monasteries were destroyed as a sign of remorse by the Albanians. Although the event seemed to have been a spontaneous reaction, it is still considered to have had a negative effect as it has weakened the positive image that the international community had of Kosovo. The government then promised that it would rebuild all the buildings that were cultural heritage.
Within the Ministry of Culture a special division was formed – the Division of Cultural Heritage (DCH). The DHC deals with very complex issues of protection of cultural heritage by acknowledging the values of cultural heritage and amending its usage to the needs of the contemporary society.
The DCH, works based on a few principles:
Kosovo’s cultural heritage is an important and integral part of our life environment and is regarded to be the wealth of all the generations of the kosovar society
This cultural heritage, should initially be valued, protected and passed on to future generations, without any prejudices about background, be it: ethnical, religious, construction, type, time of contruction, physical state and owndership.
The protection of cultural heritage is a state and collective responsibility and is considered to be an important factor in establishing sustainable social and economical level of the country, region and broader.
The law is essential for the protection of cultural heritage, the law has its normative acts that could prevent the damaging of monuments of cultural heritage and the clandestine unearthing that are unfortunately spread all over Kosovo and not only in Novo Berde. The law which has been proposed by the government, that has many flaws, has not been passed yet, still its implementation would sanction and penalize all illegal acts.
Citizens do not seem to be well informed of the importance and value of cultural heritage, this in its turn results with a lack of organizing of debated, discussions regarding the prevention of damaging of cultural heritage or even the illegal diggings. Protection of historical monuments could be achieved through interethnical cooperation, and the cooperation between the police and the community, when this is accomplished, the cooperation would finally show its rewarding results.
Bibliography
Mehmetaj, Haxhi. Personal Interview. 6 June 2008.
"Programs of the Ministry of Culture for cultural heritage." Ministry of Culture. 1 Jan. 2005. 1 Jan. 2005
Shukriu, Edi. "Tribune of PEN Kosovo center." Cultural Heritage of Kosovo. 1 Dec. 2006. 1 Dec. 2006
Shukriu, Muhamed. Ancient Prizren: Morphology of effluences for preservation of material culture. Prizren: Press, 2001.
Ymeri, Bajrush. "for Kosovo Medias." Press Release 5 Mar. 2008: 1.
Vllasaliu, Islam. Personal Interview. 15 June 2008
Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports. Departament of Culture . "Programs of the Ministry of Culture for cultural heritage"2005 http://www.mkrs-ks.org/?cid=1,110
Kajtazi, Lirie Deputy Minister of Culture, Interwiev "Koha Ditore" "Mobilizohen per ruajtjen e trashigimise" 29 may 2008A-1
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