Reviving the legacy of Letnicë/Letnica – traces of Mother Teresa of Calcutta
The story goes that in the 1920s, a young girl named Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu went on a pilgrimage to Letnicë/Letnica, a village in southeast Kosovo, where she experienced her calling to a religious life. A few years later, she embarked on a life-long journey of helping the sick and the poor around the world. You may know her better as Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
The village is home to a beautiful Catholic Church of the Black Madonna – a statue of blackened wood over 400 years old – which still attracts pilgrims from many different parts, just as it did long before Mother Teresa’s visit. Thousands of people from all backgrounds travel there every mid-August to take part in traditional and religious rituals.
In addition to the church Letnicë/Letnica also hosts a number of cultural heritage sites, which, together with its beautiful nature and history, make it an exceptional place. Yet, it lacks investors and visitors, and has a continuously decreasing population. Founded by Croat settlers some 800 years ago, it is now almost deserted, with the Croat community shrinking by the day.
To help the local community and the village in preserving their heritage, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, in co-operation with Cultural Heritage without Borders (CHwB), organized two-week youth camps on restoration and documentation as part of its cultural heritage and inter-faith dialogue portfolio. For the second consecutive year, it took students of architecture and other related fields to the village to experience cultural heritage first hand and work on actual sites.
Restoring the old
This year, a group of 17 students continued where the group from last year’s camp left off. They worked on the main cultural heritage site of the village; the 19th century Mill of Frok Dokić, situated in the centre just below the Church of the Black Madonna.
The Mill is still functional, although in need of continuous preservation work. The students rebuilt its outer wall using the traditional technique and removed a damaged layer of the ceiling to refurbish it with special protective material so that it lasts longer.
“We think that bringing students to the sites is crucial for their development as young professionals and future promoters and guardians of cultural heritage,” says Ylber Veseli of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo. “They learn restoration techniques, see the value of cultural heritage from up close and what it means to local residents and how it can bring communities together through its economic potential.”
Under the guidance of CHwB expert Nol Binakaj and craftsmen Besfort Anaxhela and Dukagjin Ibra, students used water and mud to put stones together and rebuilt the missing part of the wall, just like the original builders did.
“I was always interested in preserving the old stuff,” says Granit Kutllovci, as he comes down from the scaffolding having just finished refurbishing a part of the ceiling. “This is an example of how things were done in the past, and how we can build on them to make better things in the future.”
Rediscovering the village
While they were working on the Mill, the documentation team spent their days going around the village meeting and talking to local residents, searching for available documents and cultural heritage sites documentation to discover every detail about Letnicë/Letnica. Guided by conservation architect Rand Eppich, their goal was to draft a development plan that would revive the village through vitalizing its cultural heritage offer.
“His lectures opened our minds,” says Gent Paloka, a student of architecture, not hiding his excitement about Eppich’s guidance and the plan they drafted together. The conservation and development plan includes all aspects the team could think of that would be beneficial to the village and its inhabitants, including education, health, economy revival through increased tourism, and promotion of cultural heritage sites.
“Letnicë/Letnica should not rely on its annual pilgrimages solely. It should build up its touristic attractions throughout the year, by using its cultural heritage sites - including old stone houses - and amazing nature as touristic destinations. A revived economy would give local residents jobs and a reason to stay, and it would help keep the current local communities from leaving,” Paloka says.
According to the CHwB expert Binakaj, the plan will include GIS positioning of identified sites of cultural heritage in the village. “We are laying the foundation of a future development plan for Letnicë/Letnica in co-operation with the municipality, telling them this is a valuable place,” he says.
Leaving legacy
It will be up to the institutions to decide if they will use the plan. Sokol Haliti, the Mayor of Viti/Vitina municipality, under which the village falls, has now pledged to incorporate it into the drafting process of the new Municipal Development Plan. Meanwhile, the students have left their mark, both on the cultural heritage sites and on creating the basis for an interesting village to develop so that it can be heard, seen and experienced by more people.
They will move on with their studies and ten of them will continue exploring the values of cultural heritage through OSCE Mission supported three-month internships at key institutions. Meanwhile, the Church of the Black Madonna and Letnicë/Letnica will be there to welcome visitors and pilgrims and potentially inspire the next Mother Teresa.