a newborn capital city for europe's youngest nation this is pristina
welcome to pristina
i'm staying right in the center of town at the hotel 4
lull and a big thank you to tina for the introduction, now i knew that pristina
had a cafe culture but just look how many cafes are within about one minute
of my hotel! how on earth am i supposed to choose where to get my first caffeine fix?
a Pristina breakfast -
is there any better way to start the day?!
it's a simple seven-letter sculpture but it's the most popular and the most famous sculpture
in the whole of kosovo - to the newborn country. it was installed on the 17th of february 2008
kosovo's independence day and on every independence day since you'll find it changing
colours. nowhere in the world is bill clinton more popular than in kosovo. his role in stopping the
ethnic cleansing during the kosovo conflict has brought him legendary status, here in pristina he
has a statue and one of the main streets is named after him and if you're wondering about hillary
well she gets a mention too! senator robert dole also gets his own statue on his own street
pristina's new role as a capital city was born out of war. in 1999 ethnic cleansing began
and this soon morphed into genocide. during the war pristina was emptied of most of its albanian
population, what was that like? pristina that you can see today is totally different
and you cannot imagine how it was during the war ... at the time i was
15, 1 million people from all kosovo we have been deported, today we are 1.9 million in
total including the other minorities but at the time one million people were forced to
leave kosovo - where into every single albanian houses or apartments they enter the Serbian forces
and they ask only 15 minutes leave or die that's it - and then into the camps next to the macedonia
and from there and other camps in albania until the end of war in June, it was ended in july
then when we came back we started from the ground from zero, because uh in pristina city and all
Kosovo about 70 percent was destroyed in total. a newly confident kosovo announced independence in
february 2008 an independence recognized by most nations of the united nations, but not by serbia.
during the kosovo conflict of 98 and 99 rape was used as a weapon of war, this monument remembers
both the heroism and the suffering of the ethnic albanian women it's called heroines. at the heart
of the university campus in the centre of the city you'll find pristina's most iconic building
dating from 1982 it's the brutalist science fiction creation known as the national library.
it really is one of those love it or hate it buildings personally i love it especially when
it catches the sun. now the building next to the library is far more controversial the orthodox
church of christ the saviour construction began in 1992 and at the time it was, without doubt,
a provocative act on the part of milosevic. all of the kosovo albanian students and professors
at the university had by now been expelled so to site a serbian orthodox cathedral right in the
centre of the campus was a major statement. work was halted by the war and the post-war authorities
had no intention whatsoever of completing the work. the building now sits in a political and
legal limbo, the albanian population would like to see it destroyed, the serbian population of kosovo
now in their role as a minority, see it as an important symbol of their culture. it is obviously
a very difficult subject but i do hope that in the future a compromise can be found because at
the moment it doesn't fit the image of this city which is otherwise progressive and moving forward
the centre of pristina is a monument to 1960s yugoslav town planning. this is the main
shopping street mother teresa boulevard and at one end you'll find the mother teresa cathedral
and at the other the statue to ibrahim rugova.
in between you'll find pristina's main shops lots of book stands and of course countless cafes
ibrahim rugova is known as the father of the nation,
a politician scholar and writer, he campaigned for a peaceful separation from yugoslavia.
he was the president of his beloved kosovo until he died suddenly in 2006 just two years shy of the
country finally achieving full independence. the other figurehead of kosovo independence
is Adem Jashari a freedom fighter to the kosovo albanians but a terrorist to the serbs,
he fought an armed struggle for almost all of his life but was killed in 1998 along with 57
members of his family a terrible event that would only fuel the fire for full independence.
also on mother teresa boulevard you'll find skanderbeg the albanian national hero the leader
who united the warring albanian tribes into a force that could take on the mighty ottoman empire
in the 15th century. there's almost nothing left of pristina's ottoman bazaar, nothing to do with
the war though it's those yugoslav town planners again, they thought that future generations would
prefer this! the monument or spomenik as it was known in yugoslavia dates from 1961 the statue
of the figures represented partisan soldiers but has now been painted to represent those countries
that assisted kosovo during its liberation. albania united with great britain it warms my
heart! there's another spomenik in pristina up on martyrs hill but that is in a far worse condition
there's no doubt that the nation of yugoslavia did have its achievements things weren't all bad
but it seems that for the moment at least this new country wants to forget that chapter of its
history and Pristina in particular just wants to look forward, the amount of construction
work going on around the city is mind-boggling! pristina is very mixed it's very a vibrant city,
comparing to the european countries is very small town but it's very lively and the combination of
the the culture the history and tradition and also a big transformation in the architecture
uh apartments and everything everything is new. so pristina still has some from the communist time
and from the different periods like 18th century houses or mosques from the ottoman time - and of
course here we're standing in the oldest house in pristina - actually this is the 300 years
old house the oldest house in old town in pristina which is today the ethnographical museum before it
was the private complex but the family lived until 1958 when the family were deported to turkey, year
after it was opened as a natural museum first it was the biological museum and then from september
of 2006 me and colleagues we started work like an ethnographical museum where we are showing
the way of life in kosovo, how it was between 16th and 20th century. for a taste of pristina
during the ottoman period then you really have to come here, make sure to ask for ilir the curator
the national museum is one of the most eclectic that you'll find anywhere
it begins in the bronze age but quickly takes you through to sobering exhibits from the kosovo war
and then on to the declaration of independence but then there are curiosities
like madeleine albright's hat and the mosaic of mother teresa made of 1.5 million staples.
the museum is free so it's well worth a visit even though it does look a little bit unfinished
in places. what's the most beautiful building in pristina? very easy answer to that one the
yashar pasha mosque this mid 19th century mosque and its elaborate interior frescoes
has recently been renovated with the help of the turkish government. for my final night in
pristina i've come to the restaurant liburnia for some traditional cuisine - kosovar salad,
spinach rice and egg all washed down with pristina beer a perfect way to end my stay
with this kind of dynamic and the population that are coming
day by day here in the this big in the city of pristina i see i hope that after 10 years
it will be more developed and uh some rules will be done like the traffic and
also about the buildings and the plan of the city it's going to be better as they
are working on this - it's kind of transition time as we are a new country but after 10 years
it will be great the way they are working now after 10 years i see a new pristina!
i hope i've given you a small insight into pristina
as ilir said it's the vibrancy of this city that really hits - you i'd love to stay but there's
a lot more for me to see in kosovo so please subscribe and i'll see you on the next journey