Results of NATO bombarding on Serbian shrines

Belgrade, June 11 (Tanjug) - During the two-and-a-half-month barbaric bombing of Yugoslavia, some 160 cultural monuments in Serbia have been most seriously endangered, damaged or destroyed, thus questioning the survival of the exquisite cultural heritage of the Serb and other peoples, an inseparable part of the European civilization.

According to the information of the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural Monuments of Serbia, stated today at the Belgrade City Library by the Institute's collaborator Svetlana Pejic, the damage done by the NATO bombing was suffered by twenty five monasteries, thirty four churches, three mosques, one synagogue, forty objects of city architecture, seven objects of folk masonry, twenty five town centers, thirteen archaeological sites and sixteen memorial monuments.

Through direct hits of the NATO airforce, twenty four monuments (fortunately not a singe monastery or archaeological site) have been destroyed, through actions in close proximity seventy eight have been damaged and, due to detonations, fifty seven cultural monuments have been endangered.

The old city centers of Djakovica and Pec, the houses of Danilovics in Locani, the churches in Drsnik, seventeen objects of profane city architecture (such as the Serb Radio Television, the tower on Avala, the House of Airforce in Zemun, the building of the General Headquarters in Belgrade etc.) have been irreparably destroyed.

Svetlana Pejic emphasized that the real picture of the consequences of the daily destruction of monumental complexes, old city centers, monasteries, churches, palaces, bridges etc. cannot as yet be seen on the whole, until the degree of the damage done is not verified on the spot.

The experts' special concern is caused by the ruination of ancient sacral objects, mostly monumental in category, concerning that even the slightest damage, chemical reactions, especially earthquakes - due to the force of the detonations - drastically endanger the paintings, the architectural static of the temples and lead to the shaking of walls.

Among the thirteen damaged monasteries and eleven churches, Gracanica - a cultural monument of exceptional significance, 680 years old, the most beautiful monument of the Byzantine artistic circle of the 14th century, nominated for the entrance on the list of the world cultural heritage - has suffered the greatest amount of damage.

Due to the explosions of several dozens of missiles in the close proximity of this jewel of world art, the building of which was started in 1318 by the Serb Emperor Milutin, the facade of the church has been damaged and numerous creaks have appeared in the fresco paintings, widening after every detonation. Parts of frescoes have been broken off walls. The damage done to the building of the old, eastern bedrooms of the Gracanica monastery, the frescoes of which are in all the encyclopaedias of the world, is visible.

The Pec Patriarchate has been severely damaged also. This Patriarchate is the centuries old seat of Serb spirituality and the Serb Orthodox Church - a 13th century monument of extreme importance, containing three churches: St. Apostles, St. Dimitri, Mother of God Odigitrija and St. Nicholas' paraclise, as well as a monumental parvis. Old creaks in the frescoes have widened and new have appeared. Parts of frescoes have been broken off walls. The frescoes of these churches show the whole history of mediaeval European painting of the Byzantine artistic circle.

Due to the force of several dozens of detonations in the Kursumlija area, large creaks have appeared on the walls of the monastery of St. Nicholas and the remnants of the church of the Mother of God, memorials of Stefan Nemanja from the 12th century.

These churches present some of the first Serb sacral buildings on these territories and are important sites of Serb spirituality (the temple of St. Nicholas became the seat of the Toplica Bishopric in 1219) and state, because Stefan Nemanja chose the Toplice of the time as his first capital. After the monastery was built, Toplice were named Bela Crkva (White Church), and only later Kursumlija.

The roof of the church of St. Archangels Michael and Gabriel of the Vojlovica monastery near Pancevo, built in 1405 by Despot Stefan Lazarevic, has been severely damaged. A detailed reconstruction of this cultural monument of extreme importance, with a baroque belfry and paintings dating from the end of the 18th century, was finished in 1991. The painted ceiling of the northern vestibule of the church of Transformation in Pancevo, a very important 19th century monument, has fallen off.

The 16th century Rakovica monastery, a supremely important cultural monument, has suffered serious damage. Great static disturbances of the monastery church, upon which creaks and other damage are visible, have been noted.

On the prestigious 16th century monasteries on Fruska Gora, that are very important to Serb culture - such as Staro and Novo Hopovo and Vrdnik - significant damage to the walls, roof constructions and fresco decoration has been noted. The walls of the Sisatovac monastery are quite shaken up and the monastery bedrooms are now without a roof.

The 17th century Kovilj monastery near Novi Sad has also suffered severe damage - the walls of the church are quite shaken up, creaks have appeared in its vaults and the ceilings of the monastery bedrooms are damaged too.

During the several bombings of the Serb Radio Television's transmitter on Ovcar, the 16th century monastery of the St. Trinity and the Sretenje monastery (renovated in 1818) that have the status of cultural monuments of great importance have been severely damaged. Creaks are visible on the church walls of these monasteries and the roofs of their bedrooms have been significantly damaged also.

Although no visible damage has appeared so far, the detonations have endangered the structure and loosened the stability of the walls of the 14th century Decani monastery, the memorial and mausoleum of the Serb King Stefan Decanski. The monastery was finished by his son - King and later Emperor Dusan. The sculptures on the portals and windows have been especially damaged, as well as the monastery's stone carvings, that had been nominated for the UNESCO list of the world cultural and natural heritage in 1994, as the greatest preserved source of information on the Byzantine fresco painting, whose frescoes - with more than a thousand singular figures and scenes - is almost entirely preserved.

Ten monasteries have been endangered by the bombing, among them the 13th century Zica monastery, as well as the whole of Stari Ras (which is on the UNESCO list of the world cultural and natural heritage), with the 13th century Sopocani monastery. The bombs that had, at the beginning, been falling on the northern border of the protected whole of Stari Ras, only to start ending up in the close proximity of the church of the St. Apostles Peter and Paul near Novi Pazar and the 12th century monastery of Djurdjevi Stupovi, have endangered the structure and loosened the stability of the walls.

Peter's church is one of the oldest mediaeval sacral objects in Serbia, mentioned as a bishopric all the way back in the 10th century, with the preserved frescoes from the 9th-10th, 12th and 13th centuries. It is important to Serb history as the place where Stefan Nemanja was baptized and the council of first Bogomils was held.

During the day and night bombing of the cities and towns in Kosovo and Metohija, the 16th century Hadum mosque in Djakovica and the 15th century Bajrakli mosque in Pec have been damaged and other sacral and profane objects of the Islamic civilization have been endangered - such as the 17th century Sinan-Pasa's mosque and steam bath in Prizren, the 15th century Emperor's mosque in Pristina etc.

Since the beginning of the aggression, there has been no information on the state of the extremely important monuments in certain directly bombed cities and towns, which are unreachable due to the breaking off of communications. That is why there are as yet no precise information on the damage done to the mediaeval monasteries of Stara (12th century) and Nova Pavlica (14th century), the monumental complexes of Gornje Nerodimlje (6th-19th century) and Velika Hoca (14th-19th century) etc.

Certain profane objects of city architecture, built since the beginning of the 19th century, as well as some examples of the author's architecture from the period between the two World wars, were direct targets of the bombing - the First barracks in Kragujevac, the building of the old hospital in Pancevo (19th century), the 19th century Banska palace and the old building of the Novi Sad Television, a dozen public buildings in Nis, more than twenty representative buildings in Belgrade etc.

Monuments of technical culture have suffered too - Tabacki bridge near Djakovica (18th century), the old Varadinski bridge in Novi Sad, the Vrdnik steam power plant, the tobacco factory in Nis, the public monuments on Gucevo, Pancic's mausoleum on Kopaonik, Sumarice in Kragujevac, the Monument for the raid victims in Novi Sad, as well as numerous museums (in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Aleksinac, Nis, Smederevo, Pristina etc.).

Svetlana Pejic reminded that a detailed, daily arranged list of destroyed, damaged and endangered immovable cultural monuments in Serbia can be seen on the Internet site of the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural Monuments of Serbia - www.yuheritage.com.