Page 814 - Kosovo Metohija Heritage

Radosav Stojanović
by the hands of secessionists; in the courtyard of the Holy archangel Monastery nearby Prizren the sheep graze, etc. Of the attitude toward the cultural heritage of Serbs in Ko- sovo the facts speak for themselves: the secessionists set fire to The Shelter of the Patriarchate of Peć in 1981, and by pure chance the treasury of the Monastery full of reliquar- ies, icons and manuscripts of priceless value, was saved. even today, Kosovo sets aside minimal sums for the pres- ervation of Serbian cultural monuments, mainly counting on the revenues of SR of Serbia.
SaP Kosovo’s neglect for the Serbian cultural heritage— about 2.000 monuments belonging to it in this Province— is best illustrated by the fact that 15 years had to pass from the first initiative until the formation of The institute for Serbo-Croatian Researches in 1987. The initiative was tak- en three times; the procedure was prolonged, and hindered everywhere. Meanwhile, the Serbs and the Montenegrins were exiled from 700 places in the Province, and so the need for research into the culture of the absentees faded as well. if it were prolonged more, there might not have been need for its formation; yet, even today the institute, lacking the financial means and cadres, is in no condition to carry out research into ethnographic, musicological and archeo- logical matters. On the other hand, the albanian institute in the year of the formation of the institute for Serbo-Cro- atian Researches celebrated its 20th anniversary. Therefore,
we come to the fact that two guidelines toward the cultures of “equal rights of nations and nationalities” have been used in Kosovo for years—one is complete and abundant finan- cial means for the albanian, and the other restriction for the Serbian culture.
What the policy toward Serbian culture in Kosovo looks like today-jet the facts speak for themselves: the TV of Pri- ština releases a half-an-hour programming Serbo-Croa- tian on the subject of its culture; the radio is somewhat more generous, but altogether it is far too insufficient to cater for the needs of citizens the creative potential in Ko- sovo. Film production is a completely albanian business: for 15 years it has not produced any film in Serbo-Croatian, not even in coproduction; The archives of Kosovo, and The institute of History are almost albanian—ethnically pure; the staff of the institute for the Publication of educational text has not a single Serbian member, yet it does public books in the Serbo-Croatian language; form the Music Con- servatory, Serbs are also shutoff with the explanation that they are unmusical, and so forth.
For the sake of truth, it should be mentioned that equal- ity is in some degree practiced in the publishing. “jedinst- vo,” the house publishing Serbo-Croatian language books, publishes about 20 titles annually, two magazines, and a daily printed in Cyrillic.
Kosovo Maiden, by Dušan Ristić in: Heroes of Serbia, ed. Nada Ćurčija-Prodanović, Oxford University Press 1963, p. 48 812