The best museums Kosovo

This museum, founded in 1977 (Kompleksi i Lidhjes së Prizrenit, Kompleks Prizrenske lige), is dedicated to the first Albanian nationalist movement, the League of Prizren (1878-1881). It is housed in two Ottoman-style buildings that belonged to the Gazi-Mehmed-Pasha mosque complex (16th century). The buildings have been remodelled several times and were even moved in 1963 to create the road along the river. But above all, they are among the few monuments in the city centre burnt down by Yugoslav forces in March 1999. Rebuilt in June 2000, this museum is one of the most popular sites for Albanian Kosovars. Unfortunately, the visit can be disappointing: lack of explanations, mixture of originals and copies, partisan presentation. The smallest of the buildings is the house that housed the leader of the league, Abdyl Frashëri (1839-1892). There are weapons and documents of the period, and a recent map of "Greater Albania". The second building is the former Koranic school where the first assembly of the league took place on 10 June 1878. Traditional costumes are on display (ground floor) and photographs and works of art (upper floor). Note the two bronzes from the 1970s by the great Kosovar sculptor Agim Çavdarbasha (1944-1999) representing the two founders of the league, the Albanian deputy Abdyl Frashëri and the wealthy Prizren landowner Ymer Prizreni (1826-1887). The two busts were found in the river at the end of 1999.

This regional museum (Muzeu Arkeologjik, Arheološki Muzej) is housed in an Ottoman-era complex that includes an old hammam (Hamami i Shemsedin Beut, Hammam Šemsidin Bega) and the town's clock tower (Sahat Kulla, Sahat Kula). It houses a small but interesting collection covering a period from the Neolithic to the late Middle Ages (about 800 objects). But it is especially worth a visit for its architecture. The clock tower (19th century) is completely embedded in the baths (15th century). The hammam is said to have been built in 1498 by Ahmet Shemsedini Bey, a local Albanian governor whose family dominated the city until the 19th century. The rectangular building is constructed of stone and brick. It is surmounted by seven lead-covered domes that stood above the hot rooms. The first wooden clock tower was added in the 17th century to indicate the time of the five daily prayers to the Muslim inhabitants of the city.

Climb the tower without a clock. The hammam seems to have stopped working in the 1880s. It was at this time that the wooden tower was replaced by the present (brick) tower on the initiative of Eshref Pasha Rrotulli, a member of the local Albanian elite, whose brother was responsible for the renovation of the Gazi-Mehmet-Pasha hammam (see description). The tower, which is about 25 m high, was of little use, however, as during the First Balkan War (1912-1913) the clock mechanism and its bells were lost and never replaced. The complex was abandoned for sixty years, but was finally listed and restored in the 1970s and turned into a museum in 1975. After several periods of closure in the years 2000-2010, it is once again open to the public. It houses some of the artefacts discovered in the White Drin Valley during the excavation campaigns of the 1960s, mainly Roman and Byzantine tombstones (in the courtyard), fine pottery, spearheads and Neolithic bronze jewellery from sites around Prizren, Dragash/Dragaš, Rahovec/Orahovac and Suhareka/Suva Reka. If there are not many visitors (which is often the case), a guide can offer you to climb to the top of the tower from where you can enjoy a beautiful view of the city's rooftops and the Prizren fortress.

Established in 2002, this annex of the Museum of Kosovo (Muzeu etnologjik, Etnološki muzej) is housed in the beautiful konak Emin-Gjik. The museum houses six collections depicting the daily life of Kosovo Albanian families during the Ottoman period: pottery, wooden objects, weapons, costumes, musical instruments and jewelry. Note in particular the xhubletas, traditional Albanian bell-shaped skirts, the fustanelles, pleated skirts of men present until Greece, or the necklaces and brooches in filigree with fine gold or silver threads.

Founded in 1949, the museum (Muzeu i Kosovës, Muzej Kosova) is located in the former headquarters of the Austro-Hungarian forces (1889). Benefiting from a modern presentation since 2018, it brings together mainly a collection of archaeology and another dedicated to the Kosovo War (1998-1999). Alas, two things spoil the visit: the lack of information, especially in English, and, above all, it is never specified when the objects on display are originals or copies (which is clearly the case for some artifacts of the archaeological collection).

Archaeology - Ground floor. Already the name of the room makes one wonder: "the Dardanians". Here is a people of the end of the Neolithic period about whom we know almost nothing and who are attributed all the objects presented here, including Roman steles or a treasure of 670 Byzantine coins. But let us pass. There are still some very beautiful things. Notably rare Neolithic figurines "with alien heads": these are terracotta statuettes from the Vinča culture (7000-3000 BC) that represent female or zoomorphic deities. Also on the first floor, a display case houses personal effects of Ibrahim Rugova (1992-2006). Here we find the famous scarf of the writer-president, his typewriter, and his title of Doctor Honoris Causa awarded by the Academy of Créteil in 1996.

Recent period - 1^er floor. In the staircase, a portrait of Mother Teresa made with 1.5 million staples is accompanied by a quote from the Indo-Albanian saint: "Peace begins with a smile ". This is followed by a showcase of stamps issued by Kosovo since the year 2000. This is exciting only for philatelists. But note that these stamps are in fact issued by the UN post office: it is the only way to send mail in countries that do not recognize Kosovo. Another window quickly returns to the Albanian revolts against the Ottomans in the 19th and early 20th centuries. But most of the floor is devoted to the war of 1998-1999. At the key, a vast arsenal of guns and missile launchers of all kinds. And also some uniforms like the one offered by the American general Wesley Clark who directed the operation Allied Force (March-June 1999), or again, the suit of Faruza Kallaba, an American of the US Air Force of Albanian origin who took part in the bombardments as a refueling boom operator.