A decade after the collapses, "emergency measures" at the Novo Brdo Castle

Leaving behind a chronicle of failures with the disfiguring restoration that cost a million euros and from which artifacts were smuggled to Serbia, the state will take what it calls emergency measures that seem like a decade after this entire chapter. And, what it will do at the Novo Brdo Castle is to put up information signs that the asset poses a risk, to fence off the space to prevent visitors from passing, and to patch up the cracked walls with iron structures.

It took ten years for the Ministry of Culture to make a concrete commitment on the ground, after the restoration of over a million euros went to waste and the Novo Brdo Castle remained closed to visitors. 

Now, the country's highest cultural institution will make some very peripheral interventions. It will put up information signs that the asset poses a risk, it will carve out a small space to prevent visitors from passing through, and it will patch up the cracked walls with iron structures. It will do this with 26,980 euros. 
The history of this cultural heritage asset is a chronicle of failures. 

In 2015, the Belgrade-based company “KOTO”, selected by UNESCO, began work on the restoration of the Novo Brdo Castle. The project was financed with one million euros by the EU, while implementation and supervision were carried out by UNESCO. The work resulted in many defects, which have not yet been repaired. The stone facade is crumbling on all sides. 

On the other hand, as KOHA reported, in March 2022, and later confirmed by the Cultural Heritage Inspectorate, archaeological material was illegally transported from this castle to Serbia.

Now, through a contract for emergency measures, a small intervention is intended in the Prizren and Novo Brdo Castles. Three information boards will be installed, the interior and exterior spaces will be cleaned, and barriers and iron nets will be installed to prevent further falling of stones. This will be done by the company "Alping", which was engaged in a tender for the Prizren and Novo Brdo Castles. 

As usual, the Ministry of Culture has not responded to the questions asked about this asset. For a month, the Ministry has not provided clarifications regarding the questions of why only a few completely peripheral interventions will be made in the Novo Brdo Castle, where the issue of a complete intervention to reopen it to visitors lies, and what is the current relationship with the UNESCO Office in Sarajevo, responsible for the latest intervention in the Castle, and are there any commitments for intervention on their part. In addition, the Ministry has also centralized the public communication of subordinate institutions, transforming them into collectives of employees who are not capable of their professional work despite the scientific degrees they have. 

The Archaeological Institute of Kosovo has also not responded to questions, as has been the case since archaeologist Zana Rama took the position of acting director of the IAK. The Ministry, together with the IAK, even took disciplinary measures against archaeologists, finding that they had made public statements without the permission of the hierarchy. 

The former director of the Archaeological Institute of Kosovo, Enver Rexha, has said that the Novo Brdo problem is political. 

"In 2021, all parties were present and gave permission for rehabilitation measures to the 'KOTO' company in order to get through the winter. The restoration project was presented and there was permission for this with the consent of our institutions. Then in the summer of 2022, the work of that company, which was forced by UNESCO to carry out the rehabilitation, was stopped. But politically it was stopped by the Ministry of Culture and the Castle remained as it is," he said. According to Rexha, this situation in the Castle is the Ministry's fault.

"Since then, I have advised the former minister not to confuse us with UNESCO and the EU with useless reports. But they did not listen. At that time, the former minister had said that we would fix it ourselves. Now the site has been left without mercy," he said. 

Last year, the Ministry of Culture signed contracts for a new project for the conservation, presentation and management of this monument. For this, the Ministry of Culture selected a local company and an Italian foundation. It was determined that “Alb – Architect” and “Fondazione Santagata per l'Economia della Cultura” would carry out these works for 212 thousand euros. “Services for the development of the technical process for the Conservation and Management Plan of the Artana – Novobërdë Castle and the surrounding area in Artana – Novobërdë”, is the title of the contract. 

The Ministry of Culture has not responded to KOHA for years about the steps taken in relation to the asset, nor in relation to UNESCO and the Serbian company that carried out the works. 

Meanwhile, after KOHË reported on March 28, 2022, that the journal "Journal of Archaeological Science" had published the study "Mummified animal skin with tar content from the castle of the late medieval town of Novo Brdo (Central Balkans)" by five authors from Serbia, which revealed results of Novo Brdo artifacts, taken during 2015 and 2016, the MCYS had requested the Inspectorate of Cultural Heritage to address this issue. The report had highlighted that the archaeological material had been smuggled. This report was later supplemented with other data, giving the state a basis to initiate other procedures.

In 2022, as in June and October, former Minister of Culture, Hajrulla Çeku, had said that a team should be formed to ascertain the damages on which lawsuit or compensation procedures could be initiated.

"We must follow up with concrete actions: repairing the damage and our narrative for Novobërda. Novobërda is an ancient locality and has many layers. They (Serbian researchers vj) have kept the focus only on the Middle Ages", he said.

At the end of April 2022, a 16-page report by the Inspectorate of Cultural Heritage found that in the Novo Brdo Castle, in addition to the trafficking of archaeological material, unprofessional work had also been carried out, which resulted in the collapse of the stone facade. It was stated that the studies conducted by Serbian researchers attempted to present the site only as a medieval Serbian city. It also provides recommendations on how the MCYS should act. Among them, it was recommended to initiate criminal proceedings in the prosecution bodies.

"Since the elements of the criminal offenses are met, the MCYS should initiate criminal proceedings in the prosecution bodies against those responsible for the damage caused during archaeological works and excavations," the report said. There, in the recommendations section, it was written that "after detailed identification of the damage, including archaeological finds taken abroad, their return to their country of origin should be requested through UNESCO."

The Inspectorate of Cultural Heritage wrote in the report that Serbian institutions, the Archaeological Institute of Serbia, the National Museum in Belgrade, the Faculty of Technology in Belgrade and the University of Novi Sad, have analyzed an archaeological sample from the late Middle Ages, mummified animal skin containing tar.

"This archaeological sample from its place of origin was illegally extracted and transported abroad from the multilayered archaeological site, without the knowledge and permission of the competent institutions of the Republic of Kosovo," the report stated. 

Apart from the studies published in Serbia, the Serbian state has also financed others aimed at a wider audience.

Nemanja Marković, an employee of the Archaeological Institute in Belgrade, together with her colleague Vesna Bikić, an employee of the National Museum in Belgrade, Željka Temerinski and two lecturers at the University of Novi Sad, Snezhana Vučetić and Jonjava Ranogajec, are the authors of the paper that was funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture in Serbia.

The Journal of Archaeological Science had published the study "Mummified animal skin with tar content from the castle of the late medieval town of Novo Brdo (Central Balkans)", which also highlighted the trafficking of artifacts.

After the insistence of TIME, on behalf of the company "KOTO", the legal officer, Darko Gligorijevic, said that UNESCO was the implementer of the procurement procedure and that in accordance with its role, it received all the necessary permits for conservation works and restorative. He had shown that in some cases many archaeological finds have been handed over to the Archaeological Institute of Kosovo.

According to Gligorijevic, who referred to Kosovo with a footnote, on two occasions "the company has submitted to the Archaeological Institute of Kosovo some movable finds found during archaeological works on the project in question."

But "KOTO" still had no answer to direct questions about what permission the artifacts were sent to Belgrade with and what permission their study is being carried out with. Meanwhile, the UNESCO Regional Office in Sarajevo, which has led the entire process of conservation and restoration of the Castle, had never responded.