Heritage: The Balkans

First broadcast August 2007

The Balkan Wars of the 1990s left many Balkan cities and historic buildings in ruins.

Archaeological broadcaster and writer Malcolm Billings visits key sites in the region and finds out how reconstruction projects are restoring its cultural heritage.

Part 1: Kosovo

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More than 300 churches and mosques were destroyed during the 1990s conflict in Kosovo before NATO intervened.

Thousands of NATO troops continue to keep the peace under a UN Administration, and a political settlement has still to be agreed between the Serbs and the Albanian Kosovars who now account for about 90% of the population.

A sudden and unexpected surge in violence in 2004 in Kosovo left 40 Orthodox and Catholic churches in ruins. We look at how the international community is helping to reconstruct the damaged buildings.

Malcolm Billings visits the ancient Decani orthodox monastery - one of several at the heart of Serbian Orthodox culture.

In 2004, UNESCO placed it on the World Heritage List, citing its frescoes as "one of the most valued examples of the so-called Palaeologan renaissance in Byzantine painting".

Malcolm finds it surrounded by razor wire and guarded from attack by Italian troops from the NATO-led KFOR protection force.

Series Producer: Brigid O'Hara; Executive Producer: Anthony Rendell.

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