in the far west of kosovo you'll find a town that's famous for beer,
bazaars, monasteries and fresh mountain air and the name of that town is Peja
these days the route across the mountains to present-day montenegro
is closed to traffic but 500 years ago it was a vital trading route to far off dubrovnik
on the adriatic coast. under the ottomans a small market grew into an enormous bazaar.
it's estimated that at one time there were over 900 stores here with almost every single trade
that you can imagine. most of those trades have of course long since gone but the bazaar retains
its importance for gold and silver, there are jewellers everywhere! in the kosovo war
of 1999 over 90 percent of buildings in Peja were destroyed and sadly the old bazaar was not spared,
it was burnt down by serbian forces. what you see now is the work of an incredible programme
of revitalization. after the war back in 1999 the bazaar was destroyed, an initiative from
the civil society with the support of Peja municipality came together
and designed the project of revitalization of bazaar and artisanship. this project was
supported by and funded by the european union and participation of the municipality. now today
you will see the the result of the project. all the objectives of this project are tangible
Peja in serbian is peć and peć has held a spiritual significance for the serbians
for centuries, the reason is this complex known as the patriarchate of peć. from the mid-14th century
onwards it was the seat of the serbian orthodox patriarch. at first glance it seemed surprising
that the serbian kingdom would choose to both proclaim and bury its archbishops and patriarchs
here in the far west of kosovo at the foot of the cursed mountains but in medieval times priorities
were different, and in the 14th century the priority was to be as far away as possible
from the marauding bulgarians in the east. this is in fact not one church but several,
photography is not allowed inside but i can assure you that the frescoes and
the icons are astonishingly beautiful. it may no longer be within the political boundaries
of the modern nation of serbia but that takes nothing away from the spiritual significance
of this place and it's in the very good hands of a community of orthodox nuns. it's possibly the
most peaceful location in kosovo in probably the most beautiful corner of kosovo, quite magical
it's very easy to get to the monastery complex from the centre of Peja,
it's just a short half an hour walk along the riverside promenade
peja's most famous son is Haxhi zeka. in 1899 he founded the league of Peja
a movement that campaigned against the ottoman empire for greater autonomy and for education in
the albanian language. he was assassinated in 1902 but no doubt he would look on with
pride to see the accomplishments of modern Peja. around Peja you will of course also
find monuments and memorials to those who bravely fought but lost their lives in the kosovo war
an absolute must visit in peja is the museum which you'll find in the town's most authentic
ottoman era building. this is the Tahir beut, the house was built in 18th century, it was built in
another location here in Peja but in 1960s it was removed here as the government wanted to build a
post office so in order not to destroy historical monuments so they decided to move the house here.
this museum presents a traditional heritage of Peja region or Djukagini region.
here in this region almost each house have had this kind of room and it was a kind of
family industry. the men usually sit in this kind of room smoking cigarettes
that they made themselves singing songs, so we are talking about the 18th century and
19th. there is in this bol there is a shape of the snake
so we are talking always about the motifs. our ancient illyrians they also believed in snakes
there is a kind of suspicion that the snakes are the house guardians - we still do believe that
if you have fast flowing mountain streams passing through the town then you also have the perfect
conditions for a mill the first mill in Peja was the hash zeka mill. the mill has been restored
and fully reopened as a visitor centre and part is also used as a base for the local community
to work on projects from the revitalization of the old bazaar to the revival of handicrafts
and also to develop hiking trails. what crafts specifically are you teaching here? traditional
women's clothes with a weaving loom, shoe making, filigree and hat making this traditional
albania hat. are young people now becoming more interested in these traditional crafts?
yes the young people uh the interest of young people to get involved in the class is growing,
they see the potential they see the economic benefit of them. Peja has been a centre of art
and culture for centuries and that tradition continues in the 21st century because Peja has
kosovo's premier school of art and its director Bujar has kindly agreed to show me around. this
school is the oldest art school in kosovo. before in ex yugoslavia there were only two schools one
in Novi Sad and one here in Peja. in this school we have five directions start with fashion design,
interior design, graphic design, painting and ceramic design. we have about 280 students
in three years. one of our students he took the first place in a world competition in united
states. he was the best. the name is thoti. we can see how the students work for fashion week kosova
in pristina. we are the first who make fashion with the recycled fashion, old things, we are
the first one in europe. i came back here after the war to give something new to our students
to build this school to make something new. i love this school it's part of my of me this school
we have around 10 000 tourists during the year. you can use the via ferrata,
the zip line, the hiking, biking and everything that you need for the mountains. beside this we
also have the cultural heritage in our city for which we have 14 cultural trails that
people can visit. we have a lot of projects that we are working on with european union
and municipality of course to promote tourism as much as we can then with our
potential our target is to become a tourist destination for cultural and natural heritage
you could spend weeks here and not see everything but what i really take away from this visit
is the spirit of the people. 20 years ago there was almost nothing left of this town
so the transformation is astonishing, but when you meet the people involved and their love of this
town and the region then it's really no surprise at all. what does the town of Peja mean to you?
it's for me everything, when i came back after the war ,now i live here,
i work here, i give everything for our students for our people.
if this is what the people of Peja can achieve in 20 years then in another 20 years this town
will be unrecognizable. that's all from me on this journey see you next time.