Photos from Kosovo

The name 'Kosovo' comes from the Serbian word 'kos' (blackbird) and relates to the 'field of the blackbirds', the site of a battle where the Ottomans defeated a Serb army in 1389. Back then, the region was populated by Serbs as well as other ethnic groups, and over the centuries, migrations triggered by conflicts with the Ottoman Empire gradually lowered the population. Albanians, under Ottoman rules, gradually expanded into a depopulated Kosovo, although a small Serbian population remained. In 1998-1999, inter-ethnic tensions and politics triggered the war of Kosovo. When I travelled in Kosovo in 2003, it was still under UN administration. Kosovo declared its independance in 2008.

peja kosovo

a street in the small town of Peja

Prizren Mehmet Pasha Turkish bath

Prizren : Mehmet Pasha's Turkish bath

prizren sinan pasha sveti spas

Sinan Pasha mosque and
the Sveti Spas orthodox church (just on the right of the minaret)

prizren kosovo sveti spas

The Sveti Spas orthodox church and the Serbian part of town.

Eastern Europe