A walk up Mother Teresa...

Okay. Today for some reason, the gremlins are gone, and I can post more photos. So back to the main street tour. It really is a walk through Kosovar Albanians' history - from battling the Ottomans to life under Tito to battling the Serb forces. When you walk down to the end of the street, this is the view. I hope I get this right - I believe this is the Carshi Mosque - the oldest standing building in Pristina, built in the early 15th century. It marks the start of what was the old town in the city but not much remains. You can see two more minarets to the right and behind the mosque. Pristina's mosques are beautiful, although many are run down.

Pristina has a combination of very old mosques, like the Carshi, and newer ones which blend into the urban landscape, like the one shown on the right. [If you want a better look at the photos, I think you can click on them and get a full page view.]

Alright, continuing our tour up Mother Teresa St., on the same end as the Carshi mosque is the monument to Brotherhood and Unity - a popular slogan from the world of former Communist Yugoslavia.


The tall building behind the monument is a European Union building.

If you look closer at the Brotherhood and Unity statue, you'll see it has been surrounded by barbed wire, and the base is covered in graffiti. Apparently someone tried to blow it up in 1999 but it is still standing rather forlornly in the square.


I suppose the authorities are attempting to keep away future graffiti artists and others who might have a more nefarious agenda for the monument, although I don't think citizens pay it much attention or notice any more. Perhaps, it is a work of modern art - a telling commentary on the original subject matter of the monument.

The next monument to see on Mother Teresa Street is of the Albanian national medieval hero, Skenderbej, who managed with his army to hold off the Ottoman Turks for 25 years during the 15th Century. I believe this monument was put up two or three years ago.

If you continue up Mother Teresa Street, the next monument you reach is hers, as shown in my previous posting. The statue is pretty much located midway on the street.



And finally, toward the end of the street is a monument to Zahir Pajaziti, a Kosovar Albanian who was a commander in the KLA, (look it up), and who was killed in skirmishes with Serb forces in 1997 - one of the first heroes to Kosovar Albanians of the conflict. He is carrying a Kalashnikov and has a grenade strapped to his belt. Fresh flowers can always be found at the base of the statue.

That's your tour of the monuments in my neighborhood.