Prizren

This article is about the city in Kosovo. For other uses, seePrizren.

Prizren
Cityandmunicipality
View of Prizren Sinan Pasha Mosque Prizren Fortress Complex of the Albanian League of Prizren Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour
Flag Seal
Prizren Prizren
Coordinates:42°12′46″N20°44′21″E
Country	Kosovo
District	Prizren
Government
• Type	Mayor–council
• Mayor	Shaqir Totaj(PDK)
• Council	Prizren Municipal Council
Area
• Municipality	626.86 km2(242.03 sq mi)
• Rank	2nd in Kosovo
Population (2024)
• Municipality	147,428
• Rank	2nd in Kosovo
• Density	240/km2(610/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Prizrenas (Albanian) Prizrenci/ Призренци (Serbian)
Time zone	UTC+1(CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2(CEST)
Postal code	20000
Area code	+383 (0) 29
Vehicle registration	04
Website	kk.rks-gov.net/prizren/

Prizren(Albaniandefinite form:Prizrenipronounced[priˈzrɛni];Serbian Cyrillic:Призрен) is the secondmost populous cityandmunicipalityofKosovoand seat of the eponymous municipality anddistrict.It is located on the banks of thePrizren Riverbetween the foothills of theSharr Mountainsin southern Kosovo. Prizren experiences anoceanic climateunder the influence of the surrounding mountains.

Prizren is constitutionally designated as the historical capital of the country.Archaeological excavations inPrizren Fortressindicate that its fortress area has seen habitation and use since the Bronze Age. Prizren has been traditionally identified with the settlement of Theranda in RomanDardania,although other locations have been suggested in recent research. In late antiquity it was part of the defensive fortification system in western Dardania and the fort was reconstructed in the era of eastern Roman EmperorJustinian.Byzantine rule in the region ended definitively in 1219-20 as the SerbianNemanjić dynastytook control of the fort and the town. Prizren served as the capital of theSerbian Empireunder the reign ofStefan Dušan,as it bloomed to become an important center of trade and commerce during Dušan's reign. From 1371, a series of regional feudal rulers came to control Prizren, that includesMrnjavčević,Balšićand theBrankovićdynasty.Ottomanscaptured Prizren fromSerbian Despotatein 1455 and would almost immediately serve as the capital ofSanjak of Prizrenin theOttoman Empire.While standing as an important administrative city for the Ottomans, Prizren would also become an important political center forAlbaniansduring the late 19th century.

Prizren is often recognized for its predominantlyIslamicinfluence, with approximately 96% of the population identifying as Muslim (2011 census). Mosques, such as theSinan Pasha Mosque,are a dominant feature in the town.

Name

The name of the city has been linked with that of Petrizen, a fort inDardaniamentioned byProcopiusin the 6th century.

Hamp has suggested that the name of the city roughly meant "ford-horned animal"with the IE root*ḱrn "horn, horned-thing"(cf.Oxford). According to Curtis, Prizren follows Albanian phonetic sound rules.

History

Early period

Forts and settlements in late antiquity and medieval Kosovo.

Prizren has been traditionally identified with Theranda, a town of theRomanera.However, recent research suggests that Therand may have been located at present-daySuva Reka.Archaeological research has shown that the site of thePrizren Fortresshas had several eras of habitation since prehistoric times. In its lower part, material from the upper part of the fort has beendepositedover the centuries. It dates from the Middle Bronze Age (c. 2000 BCE) to the late Iron Age (c. 1st century CE) and is comparable to the material found in the nearby prehistoric site in the village ofVlashnjë(~10 km west of Prizren).In 2005, prehistoric rock paintings in a ritual site related to the cycle of life were found near Vlashnjë. They represent the first find of prehistoric rock art in the region.

In late antiquity, the fortification saw a phase of reconstruction. It is part of a series of forts that were built or reconstructed in the same period byJustinianalong theWhite Drinin northern Albania and western Kosovo in the routes that linked the coastal areas with theKosovo valley.At this time, the Prizren fortress likely appears in historical record asPetrizenin the 6th century CE in the work ofProcopiusas one of the fortifications whichJustiniancommissioned to be reconstructed inDardania.

Konstantin Jirečekconcluded, from the correspondence of archbishopDemetrios of Ohrid(1216–36), that Prizren was the northeasternmost area of Albanian settlement prior to theSlavic expansionthat began in the 6th century.Other historians and linguists have concluded that the northernmost and easternmost expansion of the predecessors of the Albanians prior to Slavic expansion was ratherLipjan,Vushtrri,Shkup,Nish,Shtipin Dardania and Macedonia and included the area of Montenegro and the town ofUlqin.

Middle Ages

Present-day Prizren is first mentioned in 1019 at the time ofBasil II(r. 976–1025) in the form ofPrisdriana.In 1072, the leaders of the BulgarianUprising of Georgi Voitehtraveled from their center in Skopje to the area of Prizren and held a meeting in which they invitedMihailo VojislavljevićofDukljato send them assistance. Mihailo sent his son,Constantine Bodin,and 300 of his soldiers. Dalassenos Doukas,duxof Bulgaria was sent against the combined forces, but was defeated near Prizren, which was then extensively plundered by the Serbian army.The Bulgarian magnates proclaimed Bodin "Emperor of the Bulgarians" after this initial victory.They were defeated byNikephoros Bryenniosin the area of northern Macedonia by the end of 1072. The area was raided by Serbian rulerVukanin the 1090s.Demetrios Chomatenosis the last Byzantine archbishop ofOhridto include Prizren in his jurisdiction until 1219.Stefan Nemanjahad seized the surrounding area along the White Drin between the 1180s and 1190s, but this may refer to the areas Prizren diocese rather than the fort and the settlement itself and he may have lost control of them later.The ecclesiastical split of Prizren from thePatriarchate of Constantinoplein 1219 was the final act of establishing SerbianNemanjićrule in the town. Prizren and its fort were the administrative and economic center of thežupaof Podrimlje (in Albanian, Podrima or Anadrini).The old town of Prizren developed below the fortress along the left bank of the Bistrica/Lumbardhi.Ragusantraders were stationed in the old town. Prizren over time became a trading hub and gateway for Ragusan trade towards eastern Kosovo and beyond. In this period,Stefan Dušanfounded and was buried in theMonastery of the Holy Archangelsin Prizren.Prizen briefly served as the capital of theSerbian Empireand was a crossroad of important trade goods between Dubrovnik and Constantinople.Under Dušan's reign, a 25 km long wine pipe was built between his vineyard and Prizren to transport wine to the capital.

In 1330, Serbian kingStefan Dečanskiexplicitly mentioned the presence of Albanians and the Albanian names of villages in Kosovo, in particular in the districts of Prizren and that ofSkopje.Achrisobullof the Serbian TsarStefan Dušanthat was given to the Monastery of Saint Mihail and Gavril in Prizren between the years of 1348-1353 states the presence ofAlbaniansin the vicinity of Prizren, theDukagjin Plainand in the villages ofDrenica.Within this chrisobull, nine Albanian stock-breeding villages within the vicinity of Prizren are mentioned explicitly - these villages are known with the names Gjinovci (Gjinajt), Magjerci, Bjellogllavci (Kryebardhët), Flokovci (Flokajt), Crnça, Caparci (Çaparajt), Gjonovci (Gjonajt), Shpinadinci (Shpinajt) and Novaci. Entire Albanian villages were gifted by Serbian kings, particularlyStefan Dušan,as presents to Serb monasteries within Prizren,DeçanandTetova.Additionally, people with Albanian anthroponomy are repeatedly mentioned in a 1348 chrysobull ofStefan Dušanthat lists those who pray at the monastery of St. Michael and Gabriel in Prizren as well as some of the inhabitants of the city itself and the surrounding villages. In one of Stefan Dušan's documents in 1355, a soldier with Albanian anthroponomy is exclusively mentioned as one of the people who must continuously pay the Monastery of St. Nicholas in the village of Billushë near Prizren. In the area of Prizren, Albanian toponyms are further recorded in the 14th and 15th century such as Rudina e Leshit, Truallishta e Gjon Bardhit, Llazi i Tanushit, Truallishta e Komanit, Shpija e Bushatit, Zhur, and Mazrek.

With the death ofStefan Uroš Vin 1371, a series of competing regional nobles sieged, counter-sieged and held control of Prizren – increasingly with Ottoman support and intervention. The first who tried to gain control of Prizren and the trade that passed through the town wasPrince Marko,but after his defeat in theBattle of Maritsa,theBalšićiofZetaquickly moved to take Prizren soon after the battle in the fall and winter of 1371.In the spring of 1372,Nikola Altomanovićbesieged Prizren and tried to expand his rule, but was defeated. The death ofGeorge Balšićin 1377 created another power vacuum –Đurađ Brankovićtook over Prizren for the first time at that time.

The Catholic church retained some influence in the area; 14th-century documents refer to a catholic church in Prizren, which was the seat of a bishopric between the 1330s and 1380s. Catholic parishes servedRagusan merchantsand Saxon miners.

Ottoman Period

TheFortress of Prizren.

After several years of attack and counterattack, theOttomansmade a major invasion of Kosovo in 1454; Attempts of liberating the Prizren area earlier bySkanderbegand thereafter byJohn Hunyadifailed, asĐurađ Brankovićwas an Ottoman vassal at this time and did not grant passage into Kosovo for the Crusaders to fight the Ottomans. On 21 June 1455, Prizren surrendered to the Ottoman army.Prizren was the capital of theSanjak of Prizren,and under new administrative organization of Ottoman Empire it became capital of theVilayet.Later it became part of the largerRumelia Eyalet.It was a prosperous trade city, benefiting from its position on the north-south and east-west trade routes across the Empire. Prizren became one of the larger cities of the Ottomans'Kosovo Province(vilayet).

The Ottoman registers from the 15th-16th century indicate that the villages in the Prizren-Hasregion in Kosovo had a significant Albanian population.In the OttomanDefterof 1591, the city of Prizren itself was recorded under theSanjak of Prizren- this includes the household heads of the city. By this time, Prizren had been significantly Islamised, as reflected by the anthroponomy of the inhabitants; several cases of Muslim inhabitants with mixtures of Muslim and Albanian anthroponomy exist (i.e.Ali Gjoci, Hasan Gjinaj, Ferhad Reçi, Hasan Bardi...). The Muslim neighbourhoods (Mahalla/Mëhalla) consisted ofXhamia e Vjetër (Old Mosque, 53 homes), Levisha (50 homes), Ajas beu (15 homes), Haxhi Kasem (48 homes), Jazixhi Sinani (71 homes), Çarshia (also called Jakub beu, 18 homes), Kurila (31 homes)andMëhalla e lëkurëpunuesve (neighbourhood of the leatherworkers, 34 homes).The Christian neighbourhoods (Mahalla/Mëhalla) consisted ofPazari i Vjetër (Old Market, 8 homes), Madhiq (37 homes), Vasil (27 homes), Kodha (13 homes), Çarshia/Pjetri Nikolla (14 homes), Bogoi Riber (11 homes), Radmir (51 homes), Jazixhi Sinani (mentioned beforehand, 24 homes), Pandelja (29 homes), Prend Vriça (9 homes)andAjas (13 homes).The neighbourhoods ofPandelja, Jazixhi SinaniandKodhawere dominated by inhabitants with characteristically Albanian anthroponomy; the other neighbourhoods saw a blend between predominantly Slavic/Slavic-Albanian (or rather, Orthodox) anthroponomy.

Lazaro Soranzo, writing in the 16th century, noted the town was inhabited "more by Albanians then by Serbs".In 1624 Pjeter Mazrreku reported the town was inhabited by 12,000 Muslims, almost all of them Albanians (‘Turchi, quasi tutti Albanesi’), 200 Catholics and 600 'Serviani'.Gjergj Bardhi,during his visit in Prizren, wrote in 1638 that the area was inhabited by Albanians and that the Albanian language was spoken there.In the 1630's, the Ottoman Turkish travellerHajji Khalifawrote that the town of Prizren was inhabited by Albanians.In 1651, the Albanian Catholic priest of Prizren Gregor Mazrreku reported that many men within Prizen converted to Islam to avoid theJizyatax, and that they would ask Gregor to give them confession andHoly Communionin secrecy, which he had refused to do.

During the Austrian-Ottoman wars, the local Albanian population in the Prizren region rallied to support the Austrians against the Ottomans under the leadership of the Albanian priestPjeter Bogdani.Documents and dispatches refer to the Austrians marching to "Prizren, the capital ofAlbania"where they were welcomed by Bogdani and 5,000-6,000 Albanian soldiers.The Albanian Catholic priestToma Raspasaniwrote that, once the Austrians had been expelled and Prizren was firmly in the hands of the Ottomans yet again, nobody was able to leave Prizren.In 1693, Toma also wrote that many of the Catholics in Kosovo had gone to Hungary where most of them died of hunger or disease.

Albanian Renaissance

TheLeague of Prizrenwas founded on 5 January 1877 in the old town of Prizren.

Prizren was the cultural and intellectual centre of Ottoman Kosovo. It was dominated by its Muslim population, who composed over 70% of its population in 1857. The city became a major Albanian cultural centre and the coordination political and cultural capital of the Kosovar Albanians. In 1871, a long Serbian seminary was opened in Prizren, discussing the possible joining of the old Serbia's territories with thePrincipality of Serbia.It was an important part ofKosovo Vilayetbetween 1877 and 1912.

During the late 19th century, the city became a focal point for Albanian nationalism and saw the creation in 1878 of theLeague of Prizren,a movement formed to seek the national unification and autonomy of Albanians within the Ottoman Empire. TheYoung Turk Revolutionwas a step in the dissolving of the Ottoman empire that led to the Balkan Wars. TheThird Army (Ottoman Empire)had a division in Prizren, the 30th Reserve Infantry Division (Otuzuncu Pirzerin Redif Fırkası).

Modern

View of the city September 1863 taken by Viennese photographer Josef Székely

The Prizren attachment was part of theİpek Detachmentin theFirst Balkan War.During theFirst Balkan War,the city was invaded by theSerbian armyand incorporated into theKingdom of Serbia.Although the troops met little resistance, the takeover was bloody, with 400 people dead in the first few days; the local population would call the city "The Kingdom of Death."TheDaily Chroniclereported on 12 November 1912 that 5,000 Albanians had been slaughtered in Prizren.Serbian generalBožidar Jankovićforced the local Albanian leaders to sign a declaration of gratitude toKing Peter of Serbiafor their "liberation by the Serbian army".Following the capture of Prizren, most foreigners were barred from entering the city as theMontenegrinforces temporarily closed the city before full control was restored. A few visitors did make it through, includingLeon Trotsky,then working as a journalist for the Ukrainian newspaperKijewskaja mysl,and reports eventually emerged of widespread killings of Albanians.In a 1912 news report on the Serbian Army and the ParamilitaryChetniksin Prizren, Trotsky stated "Among them were intellectuals, men of ideas, nationalist zealots, but these were isolated individuals. The rest were just thugs, robbers who had joined the army for the sake of loot... The Serbs inOld Serbia,in their national endeavour to correct data in the ethnographical statistics that are not quite favourable to them, are engaged quite simply in systematic extermination of the Muslim population ".BritishtravellerEdith Durhamand aBritish military attachéwere supposed to visit Prizren in October 1912, however the trip was prevented by the authorities. Durham stated: "I asked wounded Montengrins [Soldiers] why I was not allowed to go and they laughed and said 'We have not left anoseon an Albanian up there!' Not a pretty sight for a British officer. "Eventually Durham visited a northern Albanian outpost in Kosovo where she met captured Ottoman soldiers whoseupper lipsand noses had been cut off.

After theFirst Balkan Warof 1912, the Conference of Ambassadors inLondonallowed the creation of the state ofAlbaniaand handed Kosovo to theKingdom of Serbia,even though the population of Kosovo remained mostly Albanian.

In 1913, an officialAustro-Hungarianreport recorded that 30,000 people had fled to Prizren fromBosnia.In January 1914 the Austro-Hungarian consul based in Prizren conducted a detailed report on living conditions in the city. The report stated that Kingdom of Serbia didn't keep its promise for equal treatment of Albanians and Muslims. Thirty of the thirty-twomosquesin Prizren had been turned into hay barns, ammunition stores and military barracks. The people of the city were heavily taxed, with Muslims and Catholic Christians having to pay more tax than Orthodox Christians. The local government was predominately made up of former Serb Chetniks. The report also noted that the Serbs were also dissatisfied with the living conditions in Prizren.

World War I and World War II

Ballistforces in Prizren, 1944

With the outbreak of theFirst World War,the Kingdom of Serbia was invaded byAustro-Hungarian forcesand later by Bulgarian forces. By 29 November 1915, Prizren fell to Bulgarian and Austro-Hungarian forces.In April 1916, Austria-Hungary allowed theKingdom of Bulgariato occupy the city with the understanding that a significant amount of the city's population wereethnic Bulgarians.During this period, there was a process of forcedBulgarisationwith many Serbs beinginterned;Serbs suffered worse in Bulgarian occupied regions of Kosovo compared to Austrian occupied regions due to the Bulgarian defeat in theSecond Balkan Warand due to the long-standing rivalry between theBulgarian Orthodox Churchand theSerbian Orthodox Church.According toCatholic Archbishop of Skopje,Lazër Mjedawho was taking refuge in Prizren at the time, roughly 1,000 people had died of hunger in 1917. In October 1918 following thefall of MacedoniatoAllied Forces,the Serbian Army along with theFrench 11th colonial divisionand theItalian 35th Divisionpushed the Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian forces out of the city.By the end of 1918, theKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Sloveneswas formed. The Kingdom was renamed in 1929 to theKingdom of Yugoslaviaand Prizren became a part of itsVardar Banovina.

InWorld War IINazi GermanyandFascist Italyinvaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941 and by 9 April the Germans who had invaded Yugoslavia from the East with neighbouring Bulgaria as base were on the outskirts of Prizren and by 14 April Prizren had fallen to the Italians who had invaded Yugoslavia from the West in neighbouring Albania; there was however notable resistance in Prizren before Yugoslavia unconditionally surrendered on 19 April 1941.Prizren along with most of Kosovo was annexed to the Italianpuppet stateofAlbania.Soon after the Italian occupation, theAlbanian Fascist Partyestablished a blackshirt battalion in Prizren, but plans to establish two more battalions were dropped due to the lack of public support.

In 1943Bedri Pejaniof the GermanWehrmachthelped create theSecond League of Prizren.

Federal Yugoslavia

In 1944, German forces were driven out of Kosovo by a combined Russian-Bulgarian force, and then the Communist government of Yugoslavia took control.In 1946, the town was formulated as a part ofKosovo and Metohijawhich the Constitution defined theAutonomous Region ofKosovoandMetohijawithin thePeople's Republic of Serbia,a constituent state of theFederal People's Republic of Yugoslavia.

The Province was renamed toSocialist Autonomous Province of Kosovoin 1974, remaining part of theSocialist Republic of Serbia,but having attributions similar to a Socialist Republic within theSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.The former status was restored in 1989, and officially in 1990.

For many years after the restoration of Serbian rule, Prizren and the region ofDečanito the west remained centres ofAlbaniannationalism.In 1956 theYugoslavsecret policeput on trial in Prizren nine Kosovo Albanians accused of having been infiltrated into the country by the (hostile) Communist Albanian regime ofEnver Hoxha.The "Prizren trial" became something of acause célèbreafter it emerged that a number of leading Yugoslav Communists had allegedly had contacts with the accused. The nine accused were all convicted and sentenced to long prison sentences, but were released and declared innocent in 1968 with Kosovo's assembly declaring that the trial had been "staged and mendacious."

Kosovo War

Destroyed quarter of Prizren

The town of Prizren did not suffer much during theKosovo Warbut its surrounding municipality was badly affected during 1998–1999. Before the war, theOrganization for Security and Co-operation in Europeestimated that the municipality's population was about 78% Kosovo Albanian, 5% Serb and 17% from other national communities. During the war most of the Albanian population were either forced or intimidated into leaving the town. Tusus Neighborhood suffered the most. Some twenty-seven to thirty-four people were killed and over one hundred houses were burned.

At the end of the war in June 1999, most of the Albanian population returned to Prizren. Serbian and Roma minorities fled, with the OSCE estimating that 97% of Serbs and 60% ofRomanihad left Prizren by October. The community is now predominantly ethnically Albanian, but other minorities such as Turkish, Ashkali (a minority declaring itself as Albanian Roma) and Bosniak (including Torbesh community) live there as well, be that in the city itself, or in villages around. Such locations includeSredska,Mamushë,the region ofGora,etc.[1]

Much of Potkaljaja, the old Serb neighbourhood along the hillside in the centre of town, was looted and burned to the ground following the Yugoslav Army withdrawal. Since 2010 most of the neighbourhood has been rebuilt.

The war and its aftermath caused only a moderate amount of damage to the city compared to other cities in Kosovo.Serbian forces destroyed an important Albanian cultural monument in Prizren, the League of Prizren building,but the complex was rebuilt later on and now constitutes the Albanian League of Prizren Museum.

On 17 March 2004, during theUnrest in KosovosomeSerbcultural monuments in Prizren were damaged, burned or destroyed, includingOrthodox Serbchurches, such asOur Lady of Ljevišfrom 1307 (UNESCO World Heritage Site),theChurch of Holy Salvation,Church of St. George(the city's largest church), Church of St. George(Runjevac), Church of St. Kyriaki,Church of St. Nicolas(Tutić Church),theMonastery of The Holy Archangels,as well as Prizren's Orthodox seminary of Saint Cyrillus and Methodius.

Also, during that riot, the entire Serb quarter of Prizren, near thePrizren Fortress,was completely destroyed, as a revenge for the crimes committed during the war from the Serbian army and all remaining Serb population was evicted from Prizren.Simultaneously Islamic cultural heritage andmosqueswere destroyed and damaged.

21st century

The municipality of Prizren is still the most culturally and ethnically heterogeneous city of Kosovo, retaining communities ofBosniaks,Turks,andRomaniin addition to the majority Kosovo Albanian population. Only a small number of Kosovo Serbs remain in Prizren and its surrounds; residing mainly in small villages. Prizren's Turkish community is socially prominent and influential, and theTurkish languageis widely spoken even by non-ethnic Turks.

Panorama of centre.

Panorama from below the castle.

Geography

Main article:Geography of Prizren

Prizren is located on the foothills of theŠar Mountains(Albanian:Malet e Sharrit) in southern Kosovo on the banks ofPrizren River.Prizren MunicipalitybordersAlbaniato the southwest andNorth Macedoniato the southeast.

Climate

Prizren has asubtropical climate(Köppen climate classificationCfa)bordering acontinental climate(Köppen climate classificationDfa)in the 0°c isotherm and anoceanic climate(Köppen climate classificationCfb)in the -3°c isotherm. with an average annual temperature of 11.8 °C (53.2 °F).The warmest month in Prizren is August with an average temperature of 22.2 °C (72.0 °F), while the coldest month is January with an average temperature of 0.0 °C (32.0 °F).

Climate data for Prizren (1961–1990)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	20.2 (68.4)	22.4 (72.3)	26.0 (78.8)	31.3 (88.3)	33.8 (92.8)	40.6 (105.1)	40.8 (105.4)	37.3 (99.1)	35.8 (96.4)	31.4 (88.5)	25.6 (78.1)	23.7 (74.7)	40.8 (105.4)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	3.3 (37.9)	6.8 (44.2)	11.9 (53.4)	17.2 (63.0)	22.5 (72.5)	26.0 (78.8)	28.5 (83.3)	28.3 (82.9)	24.5 (76.1)	18.0 (64.4)	11.1 (52.0)	5.0 (41.0)	16.9 (62.4)
Daily mean °C (°F)	0.0 (32.0)	2.8 (37.0)	7.1 (44.8)	11.9 (53.4)	16.8 (62.2)	20.2 (68.4)	22.2 (72.0)	21.8 (71.2)	18.1 (64.6)	12.3 (54.1)	6.9 (44.4)	1.8 (35.2)	11.8 (53.2)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	−3.0 (26.6)	−0.6 (30.9)	2.7 (36.9)	6.9 (44.4)	11.3 (52.3)	14.4 (57.9)	15.8 (60.4)	15.4 (59.7)	12.1 (53.8)	7.3 (45.1)	3.2 (37.8)	−1.0 (30.2)	7.1 (44.8)
Record low °C (°F)	−23.6 (−10.5)	−19.1 (−2.4)	−11.7 (10.9)	−2.6 (27.3)	−0.4 (31.3)	3.8 (38.8)	7.3 (45.1)	7.0 (44.6)	−0.8 (30.6)	−4.3 (24.3)	−12.6 (9.3)	−17.4 (0.7)	−23.6 (−10.5)
Averageprecipitationmm (inches)	76.2 (3.00)	54.1 (2.13)	63.5 (2.50)	61.1 (2.41)	66.7 (2.63)	69.7 (2.74)	58.6 (2.31)	127.4 (5.02)	58.2 (2.29)	55.1 (2.17)	88.3 (3.48)	81.1 (3.19)	860.0 (33.86)
Average precipitation days(≥ 0.1 mm)	12.8	12.1	12.1	12.8	12.3	11.6	8.9	7.5	8.1	9.3	12.6	13.5	133.6
Average snowy days	7.6	5.6	3.8	0.4	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	2.1	5.8	25.4
Averagerelative humidity(%)	81	75	68	64	64	61	58	59	67	74	79	82	69
Mean monthlysunshine hours	100.2	92.0	139.4	176.2	224.5	290.7	300.8	285.7	220.7	163.4	89.7	54.1	2,137.4
Source:Republic Hydrometeorological Service of Serbia

Governance

Prizren is amunicipalitygoverned by amayor–council system.The mayor of Prizren with the members of the Prizren Municipal Council are responsible for the administration of Prizren Municipality. The municipality is encompassed inPrizren Districtand consists of 76 adjacent settlements with Prizren as its seat.

International relations

See also:List of twin towns and sister cities in Kosovo

Prizren istwinnedwith:

• Amasya,Turkey
• Balıkesir,Turkey
• Berat,Albania
• Beykoz,Turkey
• Bingen am Rhein,Germany
• Council Bluffs, Iowa,USA
• Herceg Novi,Montenegro
• Karşıyaka,Turkey
• Kavarna,Bulgaria
• Kyjov,Czech Republic
• Osijek,Croatia

Turkey andHungaryhave also a general consulate in Prizren.

Economy

For a long time theeconomy of Kosovowas based on the retail industry fueled by remittance income coming from a large number of immigrant communities inWestern Europe.Private enterprise, mostly small business, is slowly emerging. Private businesses, like elsewhere in Kosovo, predominantly face difficulties because of a lack of structural capacity to grow. Education is poor, financial institutions basic, and regulatory institutions lack experience.Securing capital investment from foreign entities cannot emerge in such an environment. Due to financial hardships, several companies and factories have closed and others are reducing personnel. This general economic downturn contributes directly to the growing rate ofunemploymentandpoverty,making the economic viability in the region more tenuous.

Many restaurants, private retail stores, and service-related businesses operate out of small shops. Larger grocery and department stores have recentlyopened. In town, there are eight sizeable markets, including three produce markets, one car market, one cattle market, and three personal hygiene and houseware markets. There is an abundance of kiosks selling small goods. However, reducing international presence and repatriation ofrefugeesandinternally displaced personsis expected to further strain the local economy. Market saturation, high unemployment, and a reduction of financial remittances from abroad are negative economic indicators.

There are three agricultural co-operatives in three villages. Most livestock breeding and agricultural production are private, informal, and small-scale. There are nine operational banks with branches in Prizren,ProCredit Bank,theRaiffeisen Bank,theNLB Bank,TEB Bank,Banka për Biznes (Bank for Business),İşbank,Banka Kombëtare Tregtare(National Trade Bank), Iutecredit, and the Payment and Banking Authority of Kosovo (BPK).

Infrastructure

All the main roads connecting the major villages with the urban centre are asphalted. The water supply is functional in Prizren town and in approximately 30 villages.

Education

Main article:Education in Prizren

There are 48 primary schools with 28,205 pupils and 1,599 teachers; 6 secondary schools with 9,608 students and 503 teachers; kindergartens are privately run. There is also a public university in Prizren, offering lectures in Albanian, Bosnian, and Turkish.

Health

The primary health care system includes 14 municipal family health centres and 26 health houses. The primary health sector has 475 employees, including doctors, nurses and support staff, 264 female and 211 male. Regional hospital in Prizren offers services to approximately 250,000 residents. The hospital employs 778 workers, including 155 doctors, and is equipped with emergency and intensive care units.

Demography

Population growth of Prizren Municipality
Year	1948	1953	1961	1971	1981	1991	2011	2016	2021
Pop.	63,587	68,583	79,594	111,067	152,562	200,584	177,781	186,986	194,581
±% p.a.	—	+1.52%	+1.88%	+3.39%	+3.23%	+2.77%	−0.60%	+1.01%	+0.80%
Source:

As of theKosovo Agency of Statistics(KAS) estimate from the 2011 census, there were 177,781 people residing in Prizren Municipality, representing thesecond most populous cityandmunicipalityof Kosovo.Its urban population was approximately 94,500, while the rural population was around 83,000.With a population density of 283,5 people per square kilometre, Prizren is among the most densely populated municipalities of Kosovo.

In terms of ethnicity, Prizren Municipality was 81.96%Albanian,9.5%Bosniak,5.11%Turkish,1.63%Romani,0.76%Ashkali,0.37%Gorani,0.13%Serbian,0.09%Egyptianand 0.45% of other ethnicities or refugees (such asAfghans,Syrians,Ukrainiansand others).

By religion, there were 170,640 (95.98%)Muslims,5,999 (3.37%)Roman Catholics,250 (0.14%)Orthodox,807 (0.45%) of other religions and 85 (0.05%)irreligious.

Besides the two official languages of Kosovo,AlbanianandSerbian,TurkishandBosnianare also the official languages of the Municipality of Prizren.

From top to bottom, left to right:TheSinan Pasha Mosque,the Roman CatholicCathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour,Gazi Mehmet Pasha Mosque,and the Serbian OrthodoxOur Lady of Ljevišchurch.

The presence ofVlachvillages in the vicinity of Prizren is attested in 1198-1199 by a charter of Stephan Nemanja.Madgearu argues that the series of Ottoman defters from 1455 onward showing the "ethnic mosaic" of Serb and Albanian villages in Kosovo shows that Prizren already had significant Albanian Muslim populations.Since an early period in its rapid development as an Ottoman city, Prizren had much more Muslims than Catholic or Orthodox inhabitants as in the pre-Ottoman period.

Due to urban development in the Ottoman period, with the building of mosques and other Islamic buildings, Prizren received an Islamic urban character in the 16th century. 227 of 246 workshops of Prizren were run by Muslims in 1571.Catholic archbishopMarino Bizzireported in 1610 that Prizren had 8,600 houses, out of which many were Orthodox (who had two churches), and only 30 were Catholic (who had one church).The Orthodox far outnumbered the Catholics.Catholic archbishopPjetër Mazrekureported in 1624 that the town was inhabited by 12,000 "Turks" (Muslims, i.e. mainly Albanians) of which most spoke Albanian, and that there were 600 Serbs (Orthodox Christians) and maybe 200 Catholic Albanians.In 1857, Russian Slavist Alexander Hilferding's publications place the Muslim families at 3,000, the Orthodox ones at 900 and the Catholics at around 100 families.In the Ottoman census of 1876, it had 43,922 inhabitants.

Culture

Main article:Culture in Prizren

TheDokufest International Film Festivalis held annually since 2002.

Regarded as the historical capital of Kosovo, Prizren has been home to many different religions and cultures for centuries, shaping the cultural heritage of the city.Prizren is also considered as a museum city with many mosques, churches and old buildings of national importance.TheFortress of Prizrenlocated above thePrizren Riverhas seen habitation and use throughout different periods since the Bronze Age. Among the artifacts of the Middle Ages are theSinan Pasha Mosque,Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Cathedral,Holy Saviour Church,Katip Sinan Qelebi Mosque,Holy Archangels Monastery,St. Nicholas Church,Muderiz Ali Effendi Mosqueand theUNESCOWorld Heritage SiteOur Lady of Ljeviš.

The annualDokufest International Film Festivalheld in Prizren is considered among the largest publicly attended film festival in the Balkans. Several art and music festivals and conferences are held in the city, including the40BunarFestandNGOM Fest,with the main objectives to promote artists and to connect the different ethnic groups in the surrounding region.

Sports

The city has one sports club known asKF Liria.They currently play in theFootball Superleague of Kosovo.The city is also home to one of the basketball teams in Kosovo,K.B Bashkimi.

See also

• List of people from Prizren
• List of monuments in Prizren

Bibliography

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• Galaty, Michael; Lafe, Ols; Lee, Wayne; Tafilica, Zamir (2013).Light and Shadow: Isolation and Interaction in the Shala Valley of Northern Albania.The Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press.ISBN978-1931745710.
• Machiel, Kiel (1990).Ottoman Architecture in Albania, 1385-1912.Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture.ISBN9290633301.
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• McGeer, Eric (2019).Byzantium in the Time of Troubles: The Continuation of the Chronicle of John Skylitzes (1057-1079).BRILL.ISBN978-9004419407.
• Hoxha, Gëzim (2007)."Të dhëna të reja arkeologjike nga Kalaja e Prizrenit / Nouvelles données archéologiques sur la forteresse de Prizren".Iliria.33:33.doi:10.3406/iliri.2007.1073.
• Novaković, R (1966). "O nekim pitanjima područja današnje Metohije krajem XII i početkom XIII veka".Zbornik Radova Vizantološkog Instituta.9:195–215.
• Prinzing, Günter (2008). "Demetrios Chomatenos, Zu seinem Leben und Wirken".Demetrii Chomateni Ponemata diaphora: [Das Aktencorpus des Ohrider Erzbischofs Demetrios. Einleitung, kritischer Text und Indices].Walter de Gruyter.ISBN978-3110204506.
• Rrezja, Agon (2011)."Zhupa e Podrimës sipas burimeve cirilike të shek. XII-XV / District of Podrima according to Cyrillic sources of the 12th-15th centuries".Gjurmime Albanologjike.41–42. Albanological Institute of Pristina.
• Stojkovski, Boris (2020). "Byzantine military campaigns against Serbian lands and Hungary in the second half of the eleventh century.". In Theotokis, Georgios; Meško, Marek (eds.).War in Eleventh-Century Byzantium.Routledge.ISBN978-0429574771.
• Shukriu, Edi(2006)."Spirals of the prehistoric open rock painting from Kosova".Proceedings of the XV World Congress of the International Union for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences.35.

External links

• Municipality of Prizren– Official Website