The Ministry of Culture stated today that the posts by the Archaeological Museum in Peć, in which the Patriarchate of Peć is presented as a „complex of original Pre-Romanesque and Byzantine churches that were systematically transformed into Raška-Serbian Orthodox churches,“ are the latest example of attempts to misappropriate Serbian cultural heritage by falsifying history in the most bizarre way.
In the Ministry’s statement, it is noted that, in the absence of any cultural heritage of their own, Albanian alleged „institutions“ do not hesitate to reach for Serbian ones.
It is added that in the post from the museum in Peć regarding the visit of students from a school in that city to the Patriarchate of Peć, a multitude of fabrications, forgeries, manipulations, and cynical lies were presented claiming that Serbs misappropriated their own cultural heritage, and that the message „that this initiative should serve as an example and encouragement to other schools“ probably sounds the most ominous.
„As if it is not enough that the Patriarchate of Peć is on the UNESCO World Heritage List as a masterpiece of Serbian-Byzantine architecture, as if it is not enough that it was built by Serbian archbishops for a century, as if it is not enough that it is the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church, where its Patriarchate was inaugurated, as if it is not enough that it was erected in the middle of the 13th century as the seat of Serbian archbishops even before the Patriarchate and as a burial place for several archbishops, as if it is not enough that it burned at the hands of Albanian extremists in 1981,“ the statement emphasizes.
The Ministry adds that from this it clearly follows not only that Albanian extremism does not shy away from brutal seizure and bare lying in order to misappropriate Serbian cultural heritage, but also that it wants to involve institutions that should deal with education and upbringing in this crime.
„That is precisely why this example is simultaneously horrifying and tragic. The monstrosity of this crime, unfortunately, is not only in the fact that educational institutions are used to instill lies into children’s minds, but also much more in the fact that such frequent falsification was a prelude to general violence against the Serbian people, and not only against Serbian cultural heritage and culture as a whole,“ the statement said.
It is pointed out that this example is a grotesque image of the abuse of youth and childhood in the function of creating a false state on a false history and on Serbian cultural heritage.
„That is why the Ministry of Culture will continue to oppose the destruction of civilizational values, especially through such terrifying examples, in every place, in the name of protecting Serbian cultural heritage, in the name of protecting historical truth, and in the name of universal human values,“ the Ministry of Culture emphasizes in the statement.
The Archaeological Museum in Peć, which operates within the system of temporary institutions, in its Facebook post, presented the Patriarchate of Peć, which has been the seat of Serbian archbishops and patriarchs for centuries, as a „complex of original Pre-Romanesque and Byzantine churches that were systematically transformed into Raška-Serbian Orthodox churches.“
This museum, in a post regarding the visit to the Patriarchate of Peć by students of a high school in Peć, which it organized, also made claims that restoration works during the 20th century, as well as those in the period from 2006 to 2008, led to alleged „degradation“ and the „destruction of old layers“ from the period from the 4th to the 6th century.
The Patriarchate of Peć was built from the third decade of the 13th century until the middle of the 14th century and is the centuries-old seat of Serbian archbishops, and later patriarchs.
It consists of a complex of four churches with a shared narthex.
Since 2006, it has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the ensemble „Medieval Monuments in Kosovo,“ and at that time it was also included on the list of World Cultural Heritage in Danger.
It has been targeted by Albanian attacks several times, and in a fire that was set in March 1981, the old quarters of the patriarchate burned down.
The monastery was guarded by KFOR until 2013, and since then by the so-called Kosovo police.
Serbian Orthodox Church facilities in Kosovo and Metohija are constant targets of Albanian attacks, and temporary self-government institutions constantly attempt to rename them as Albanian cultural heritage.
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Source: Euronews, Photo: Printscreen/ Tanjug video