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BELGRADE - Since the arrival of KFOR in Kosovo and Metohija on June 10 ethnic Albanian terrorists have pulled down, torched or desacrated 77 Serb churches and monasteries and plundered or destroyed more than 10,000 icons and other religious objects, the director of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments in Srebia, Mileta Milic, has said.
Such vandalism on the threshold of the 21st century, is unprecedented in Europe, Milic set out adding that the interneational forces and UNMIK chief Bernard Kouchner are fully aware what is going on in Serbia's southern province but are not doing anything on purpose.
Underscoring that such destruction of the cultural heritage of the Serb people was not recorded even during the 500-year Turkish rule, Milic said that the majority of the destroyed churches date from the Middle Ages, but that there are also those built in the past ten years.
One of the oldest to be completely destroyed by the terrorists is the Church of the Holy Trinity built in 1316 and located in the village of Musutiste, near Suva Reka.
Totally destroyed have also been many temples dating from the 14th century as well as more than 150 auxilliary church buildings and other facilities.
The destruction of the Serb cultural heritage is at the same time the destruction of the cultural heritage of Europe since the ancient Serb sites in Kosovo and Metohija are a part of the European and world heritage and civilization. The majority of Serb monasteries, such as Decani, the Pec Patriarchate, Gracanica and others, have been included in world encyclopedias because of their architectural and artistic values.
The Institute for the Protection of Monuments has appealed for help to more than 150 addresses in Europe and throughout the world, including UNESCO, the Parliament of Europe, NATO foreign ministers and numerous influential political and cultural figures.