The Cathedral of the medieval city of Artana (formerly Novobërda), which Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj called a common value of coexistence, has been restored today.
On the occasion of its inauguration, the German ambassador to Kosovo, Christian Heldt, was there together with the prime minister.
On this occasion, Haradinaj said that the cathedral, which has been renovated with the help of the German Government, confirms the long path of coexistence and values.
"The cathedral for which the German Government gave money and gave it to our archaeological institute and gave it the opportunity to arrive in this state of renovation that we found, is also a common value. Fortunately, there are many common values in Kosovo, so they do not divide, but they are values that unite, unite all those who have lived here, but also our partners, our allies in the past. In this particular case, this cathedral is a common value even with Germany at that time", said Haradinaj.
At the same time, he announced that only during the time he was prime minister, Germany gave over 100 million euros in donations to Kosovo.
"As the head of the Government, I can give the information to the people of Kosovo, during my time in office, Germany has given over 100 million euros in donations for extremely important projects for the lives of our citizens. This gesture is very significant because it also gives for the history, for the values that we preserve together", he added.
The Ambassador of Germany, Christian Heldt, said that the Archaeological Institute is doing a good job, and this object, which was renovated today, is proof of that.
The German ambassador thanked Prime Minister Haradinaj for, as he said, the latter's interest in the history and importance of the work of the Archaeological Institute of Kosovo.
happy that we had the opportunity to support this project of the Archaeological Institute of Kosovo. I would like to officially hand over to you the documents of the history of Novoberda that these wonderful people have made here. I would like to honor the archaeologists of this country, who do not always work in good conditions but fighting for what they believe in, which is the preservation of the diverse history of this beautiful country. We are happy for what we did. We hope to have many other projects supported by the fund for the preservation of culture of the German Foreign Ministry as we think it is worth it", said the German ambassador.
Meanwhile, the director of the Archaeological Institute, Enver Rexha, spoke about the importance of this project, as he expressed optimism that in the future they will continue with other monuments, for which he said he believes that they will also have the support of the Government of Kosovo.
"I would like to inform you with the German embassy that we started this project in 2017, in 2018 conservation and restoration were carried out, in addition to the recognition and scientific research that was done. Now this year, we are more concerned with the research and study of the material, it is a procedure of cartelization and recording of those other references and I am pleased to inform you that somewhere for years we have taken measures for the preventive preservation of the object", he said.
The project for the restoration of the cathedral of Artana started in 2017 and was financed by the German Embassy.
