Work on the conservation and restoration of the Sylejman Vokshi Tower is expected to start this week. What, according to the tender, is called "Phase I - Sylejman Vokshi Tower, Gjakovë", will cost the state 32 euros. This intervention aims to stop the further degradation of the XVIII century monument in the southwestern city. This is how work will begin to give an epilogue to the two-decade wait for restoration.
According to the tender file that the Ministry of Culture had already opened in October, the contractor will be "Albi Company" from Rahoveci. It is clarified there that 13 companies had competed to perform this work. Fixing the damaged parts of the walls, changing the doors and windows, painting the interior plaster walls and changing the roof, are some of the main works that will be done within 120 days, as determined by the contract.
But due to meteorological conditions, the shift of the peak remains in question.
Currently, the exterior of the Tower shows that the monument is in danger. In addition, it also endangers one of the owners who lives in the building and also those who live in the building that is adjacent to the monument. But the miserable image of the 10th century Tower can be seen only by those who are offered to look at it. KOHA has reported several times that the monument is completely surrounded by buildings and cannot be seen from the Grand Bazaar or from any other part of the city. The residential building that started to be built in February of this year has seven floors, apart from the base. It is located about 30 meters from "Mejtepit Ruzhdije", also a protected monument, and about XNUMX from the Tower. It has completely isolated the monument in relation to the Bazaar.
Naser Kalaveshi, who is a tailor by profession, is one of the co-owners who lives in the Tower. He can only use the first floor, as the second floor is dangerous. The upper floor that once served Sylejman Vokshi - who is known as the general of the League of Prizren - to receive guests, is in a serious condition. Except that it is not a question of living there, the ceiling has fallen in some spaces.
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The director of the company that will carry out the works, Qazim Bytyqi, said that the work will start soon. "We are preparing to start work. The work will be done, no worries," he said.
The director of the Regional Cultural Heritage Center in Gjakovë, Osman Gojani, said that skeletons will be placed during this week.
"Today we sent the project management plan to the Ministry. Rain or snow may hinder us. But if we have obstacles from the weather we can do the jobs that are inside; plaster, doors and windows. So, if there is rainy weather, we work inside", he said.
The Ministry of Culture for this year had planned 50 thousand euros for this capital project. In the revision of the budget, the amount was reduced by 50 percent. And according to the Draft Law for the coming year's budget, 50 thousand euros are still foreseen.
Valbona Kalaveshi, who co-owns the Tower and lives in the building next to the monument on the north side, said that according to the information they have, during this period work will be done on the walls, doors and windows.
"Whereas the tower is the greatest need", said Kalaveshi, who put the tower up for sale on the grounds that they cannot maintain it. She said that the state would have to make a housing solution for them until the Tower is restored.
"We cannot stay in other people's houses until the work there is finished," she said.
But, according to Osman Gojani, the only resident of Kulla can stay in the rooms where no work is done. And the family that lives in the annex next to the Tower does not need to change their place of residence. The co-owners have requested that a plaque and a bronze bust of Vokshi be fixed, which according to them was stolen after the war. Also, Kalaveshi has requested the repair of the surrounding wall of the yard on the grounds that it is destroyed.
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Surrounded by high-rise buildings, the Sylejman Vokshi tower remains in a serious condition
Gojani has said that they will see what will remain for the second phase of the works.
"We will see what will remain to be worked on after the first phase. "In old buildings, during conservation, unexpected work also appears," he said.
But despite the restoration, the Tower finds it difficult to stand out as it once did. On the upper floor, where Vokshi could have seen the Tower of Avdullah Pasha Dreni and the grave of Mehmet Ali Pasha Maxharri, the situation has changed. The Bazaar cannot be seen. The high-rises have made themselves. Among the monuments, in September 1878, after a battle, Mehmet Ali Pasha was killed, who as a subordinate of the High Gate was working for Plava and Gucia to belong to Montenegro.
In 2014, the owners put the monument up for sale. In 2015, when the Municipality was led by Mimoza Kusari, it had expropriated the Kulla plot along with several others around.
The municipality of Gjakova, led by the mayor Ardian Gjini, through a new decision in March of last year, succeeded in undoing the previous one. It had given up the surrounding plots. The Ministry of Culture at that time had estimated that the Municipality has put the Tower in front of a "legal risk", since the Urban Regulatory Plan of 2005 determined that multi-storey buildings should be erected around the Tower. The case is now in court.
"The expropriations, which in the opinion of the majority of assembly members and mine, were unnecessary, that is, of other plots and not of the Tower, have been removed from the expropriation. This case has gone to court. The case was sent to the court by the Municipality, after the Ministry returned the decision of the Municipality as illegal. There is no other authority in Kosovo that forces the municipalities on what to expropriate and what not", said the mayor of Gjakova, Ardian Gjini, at the end of May this year.
But the construction of the new multi-storey building, which this year has grown to seven floors in four months - and which is located between Kulla and the Krena river, which separates the monument from the Çarshia - was also assisted by the Kosovo Institute for the Protection of Monuments. The institution, which is led by Ismet Hajrullahu, replaced two members of the commission that defined the protected area around the Tower within the same day, and on the same day issued two recommendations with different content and the same protocol number. This manipulation, about which "Koha Ditore" had reported in February of this year, served for the Municipality of Gjakova to grant permission for the second building between the Tower and the river.
The function of the Tower after the restoration remains a separate problem. It is not known about the destination it will have. The tower is surrounded by other monuments, such as "Mejtepi Ruzhdije", which is very close to it, and the First Albanian School in Gjakovë.
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According to the website "Trashegimia.org", the Tower was taken under permanent protection by the former government in 1980. According to the description given to it, the Tower is located in the place called "Mejtepi Ruzhdije", at the entrance of the Old Bazaar in Gjakova. The building was built at the beginning of the XNUMXth century and has great historical importance, because the national hero Sylejman Vokshi, who was one of the founders of the Albanian League of Prizren, was born there.
"The building has architectural value, it was built with baked bricks, natural stones, wood, lime mortar, while the roof is made of traditional tiles. The building is on two floors, facing west-south, with quadrangular windows. The cellar is located above the ground and was used to store food. The object has undergone some small transformations, especially in the interior and in the doors and windows", it is written on this page.
