While the White House is preparing a meeting between the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo, the self-proclaimed republic took an extremely provocative step. There, construction began on a road through the medieval monastery of Visoké Dečany, which is part of the Serbian cultural heritage.
Representatives of the Rasko-Prizren diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church reported on what was happening.
“The actions of the Kosovar structures make it clear both the unwillingness to protect such an important monastery and monument of the world cultural heritage, and the readiness to violate the Kosovo laws”, – the diocese said.
The fact is that the construction of the road violates the law “On special zones” adopted by the parliament of the quasi-state. Moreover, construction work was prohibited by a local court decision. All this was ignored.
Demonstrating the insignificance of their own decisions, the authorities of the unrecognized republic pulled heavy construction equipment to the monastery.
Now the old asphalt is being removed from the monastery building, drainage pipes are being installed and the road is being widened by several meters. Such vigorous activity leads to the fact that the structures built seven centuries ago will begin to collapse.
The Visoki Dečany monastery, also known as the Decan Lavra, was founded in 1327. In 2004 the monastery was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Two years later, it was included in the list of World Heritage in Danger due to possible attacks by Albanian militants. Officially, he is under the protection of the NATO occupation forces in Kosovo, but they do not fulfill their obligations.