OSCE Mission in Kosovo organizes cultural heritage restoration and documentation youth camp

A two-week youth camp on restoration and documentation of cultural heritage in the village of Letnicë/Letnica, Viti/Vitina municipality, concluded on 5 July 2019.

The camp was organized by the OSCE Mission in Kosovo in co-operation with NGO Cultural Heritage without Borders Kosovo (CHwB) for 17 students of architecture and related fields with the aim to expand information and awareness on the values of cultural heritage, along with its cultural, social and economic benefits, but also to increase the students’ skills in the techniques of preserving cultural heritage sites.

In the course of the program, the students were divided into two teams, one focused on restoration and another on documentation work. Over the past two weeks, the restoration team conducted practical work at the 19th century Mill of Frok Dokić under the guidance of CHwB expert Nol Binakaj and craftsmen Besfort Axhanela and Dukagjin Dibra. They rebuilt an outer wall of the mill using the original building technique and removed a damaged layer of the ceiling and refurbished it with special protective material.

At the same time, the documentation team worked on drafting a development plan to revive Letnicë/Letnica’s tourism through reviving its cultural heritage offer. Under the guidance of conservation architect Rand Eppich, the students developed a concept conservation and development plan for the village based on interviews with local residents, available documents on the village and cultural heritage sites documentation.

The youth camp in Letnicë/Letnica is a follow-up to a similar programme organized last year by the OSCE Mission in Kosovo.

The camps will be followed by an internship programme for ten participants, who will work at the key cultural heritage institutions for a period of three months to further expand their knowledge on other institutional aspects of cultural heritage protection, preservation and promotion.