Kosovo: Gracanica monastery

We visited the 14th century monastery in Gracanica. This monastery was completed in 1321 by Serbian King Milutin.  Inside were adorned floor to ceiling with impressive frescoes - all from the 14th century. 


Our Albanian taxi driver was kind enough to translate the Serbian explanation of the meaning of the frescoes.

here is the monastery - before we noticed the signs that said no cameras were allowed (so, sadly I have no pictures of the impressive 14th century frescoes)

I found this picture from the New York Times - that shows Secretary Hillary Clinton visiting the monastery - and you can see some of the frescoes here

visible around the walls of the monastery: barbed wire fencing

as we approached the Serbian village we saw this sign, indicating that we were entering an area covered by video surveillance - there were video cameras visible on the telephone polls/street lights

In Pristina we visited the NEWBORN monument, which celebrates Kosovo's independence.  In this Serbian village there is a monument that is similar (with the big block letters) but instead says MISSING 

you can see the monument better in this image I pulled from the interwebs -- the pictures on the monument are of Serbs missing in the conflict

also visible as we entered the village: the Serbian flag

and a Serbian hero