>Foreign Raiders Plunder Kosovo's Heritage
>
>Recent case of alleged treasure hunters in Novobrdo highlights poor
>protection of historic sites.
>
>By Alma Lama in Pristina (BCR No 561, 23-Jun-05)
>
>Four UNMIK police officers have been allegedly caught searching for
>archeological treasures in the medieval fort of Novobrdo in eastern Kosovo.
>
>An UNMIK source said members of the Polish Special Police Unit, PPSU, based
>in northern Mitrovica, were using metal detectors and digging holes within
>the walls of the old mining town on which the fort was built.
>
>Also known as Monte Argendaria, Novobrdo is in a mineral rich area. In
>medieval times, the town's silver mines generated great wealth, drawing
>German settlers.
>
>The PPSU has not confirmed the report and the unit commander was not
>available for comment. UNMIK police spokesperson, Neeraj Singh, said the
>matter was "under investigation". In the 1960s the Yugoslav authorities
>placed Novobrdo under protection as a site of special importance. Today,
>there are signs indicating Novobrdo's protected status in English, Albanian
>and Serbian.
>
>But the fort's guard, Albanian Islam Vllasaliu who confirmed the report of
>IWPR's UNMIK source, said this did not deter the policemen from digging for
>about three hours.
>
>"I told them in Albanian that it is forbidden to dig in the castle, but they
>would not listen," he said.
>
>As they may have not understood each other, the guard called the Kosovo
>Police Service and handed them his cell phone, so they could speak to the
>KPS directly.
>
>He said when KPS officers arrived on the scene the UNMIK police officers
>refused to hand over the objects they had uncovered, including coins. Haxhi
>Mehmetaj, director of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage
>and of the Pristina Museum, which has custody over Novobrdo, said the museum
>has not recovered the stolen objects.
>
>Mehmetaj said the coins probably had some value, while the other items might
>be of "invaluable archeological importance".
>
>Veli Bytyqi, of Kosovo's culture ministry, said the affair raised important
>issues about protecting Kosovo's archaeological heritage.
>
>"The authority of the officials in charge of the protection of our cultural
>heritage is not being respected," he said. "The case of the Novobrdo guard
>and UNMIK police officers is a case in point." Cultural experts complain
>that objects are regularly removed and sold. Mehmetaj said he knew of
>"dozens" taken by KFOR soldiers or UNMIK officials, often with the
>cooperation of local officials.
>
>He told Balkans Crisis Report, BCR, he had information that raiders recently
>unearthed a piece of Illyrian art that was more than 2,000 years old from a
>site near Korisha, close Prizren, and sold it to an Austrian collector.
>
>The Roman archeological sites of Ulpiana, near Pristina, and Gllamnik, in
>Podujevo are also frequent targets, said Mehmetaj.
>
>Although a Yugoslav law on the protection of cultural heritage, approved in
>1978, remains in force in Kosovo, no one stops the illegal treasure hunters
>and the traffic in archeological objects is conducted openly. Xhemajl
>Novobwrda, whose house lies close to the walls of Novobrdo, says he often
>observes this theft.
>
>"I see people coming at night and digging to find old objects," he told BCR.
>Mehmetaj says the plunder started well before UNMIK assumed control of
>Kosovo's administration, especially during the last, lawless years of
>Serbian rule.
>
>"Many archeological objects were stolen after the 1980s," he said. "Belgrade
>neglected all other heritage in Kosovo except for Serbian Orthodox
>monuments, as it wanted to build up a myth about Kosovo's Orthodox
>heritage." The current authorities lack the resources to restore or to
>safeguard even the most important archeological sites.
>
>"The government does not have a big enough budget," said Veli Bytyqi, who
>complains that international authorities "have not given due importance to
>ensuring our heritage is not stolen".
>
>A recent donation of 40 million euro by the UN's cultural arm, UNESCO, may
>help to change matters.
>
>But it remains to be seen whether the extra money will be enough to
>safeguard Novobrdo, Ulpiana and Kosovo's other historic sites from
>traffickers in cultural heritage.
>
>Alma Lama is a reporter from Radio Television Kosovo and a BIRN contributor.
>BIRN is a localised IWPR project.
>http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr3/bcr3_200506_561_4_eng.txt

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