Travel Guide Leposavić (Leposaviq)

The town is known by three names: Лепосавић/Leposavić in Serbian (pronounced "lepozavitch") and Leposaviqi/Leposaviq or Albanik/Albaniku in Albanian. It has a population of 3,700 and 18,600 with the rest of the municipality (96.5% Serbian). The town is located 30 km southeast of Raška (Serbia), 34 km northwest of Mitrovica.A small mining town not very beautiful and not much inclined to tourism, Leposavić/Leposaviq is nevertheless located in the splendid valley of the Ibar, bordered on the west by Mount Rogozna (1,479 m above sea level) and, to the northeast, by the majestic Kopaonik Mountains. The last town in the north of Kosovo, this Serbian enclave is turned towards nearby Serbia, more particularly towards Raška, the heart of medieval Serbia, and towards the large ski resort of Kopaonik: here, one speaks Serbian, one pays in Serbian dinar, one sends one's mail by Serbian post, etc. The authorities in Pristina did try to "Kosovarize" it by renaming it "Albanik" in 2001. But this name did not take. Leposavić/Leposaviq, however, is a recent creation. It was founded by the Royal Yugoslav Army in 1928 to exploit the lead, zinc and silver deposits in the Kopaonik Mountains. It was not attached to Kosovo until 1959, at the request of the Trepča group. But since 1999, the mines have been idling and a large proportion of the miners in Leposavić/Leposaviq have been left without jobs. So much so that trafficking of all kinds has developed in recent years.