Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton Boulevard is a boulevard located in Pristina. Following the Kosovo War of 1998 to 1999, Albanians in Kosovo wanted to thank former U.S. President Bill Clinton for his help in their struggle with the government of Yugoslavia. A 10-foot-high statue of Clinton was unveiled on the boulevard on Nov. 1, 2009, at a ceremony in which the former president spoke.

Fun Fact: Right next door is a store called “Hillary” that sells women’s pantsuits and features a large picture of Hillary Clinton.

The bust is of Senator Bob Dole who traveled to Kosovo for the first time in 1990. Many have remarked that his visit in 1990 was the turning point for Kosovo’s freedom. His visit opened the eyes of the international community to the ongoing human rights abuses occurring in Kosovo.

I also decided to get a close up of the NEWBORN sign. Some pretty horrific stuff.

Side note: It’s been really difficult to get someone to take a picture of me while traveling. Many have said “Sorry, COVID” and then walked off, which I respect. But what am I going to do? NOT get a picture with a Bill Clinton statue in Kosovo? That’s right, I stand around awkwardly until someone finally agrees.

Cathedral

The Cathedral of Saint Mother Teresa in Pristina is a Roman Catholic cathedral. In 2007, the Government of Kosovo approved plans for the building and it is dedicated to the Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun and missionary, Saint Teresa of Calcutta.

Fun Fact: The cathedral is one of Pristina's tallest buildings.

Other pictures are the stadium by my AirBnb at night, a picture of the streets at 8pm on the first day of 7pm curfew, the building where my gym is, and a cute fruit store.

Pristina Library

The National Library of Kosovo was designed by Croatian architect Andrija Mutnjaković, followed by controversies about the outside appearance of it.

According to the architect, the building is meant to represent a style blending Byzantine and Islamic architectural forms. Others think this building is seen as a reaction to the impersonality of International Style and an attempt to combine modern means with regional traditions and rural architecture, but also as a Modern-Metabolist style.

Another thought is that this project was meant to reconcile the relations between Serbians and Albanians. Its domes are a combination of existing Turkish baths in Prizren and Patriarchate of Peć.

The Cathedral church of Christ the Saviour is an unfinished Serbian Orthodox Christian church whose construction began in 1992. Due to have been completed in 1999, its construction, on the campus of the pre-war University of Pristina, was interrupted by the Kosovo War.

The orange #NOLOCKDOWN signs are on about 80% of restaurants and bars in Pristina protesting the lockdown (everything closes at 7pm) that will be implemented tomorrow, Nov. 13. I also don’t know what the Chuck Norris graffiti says, but I love that he has an Albanian way to write his name.

The picture of Trump and Hillary are from a famous Italian chain restaurant that both of them visited. Thought it was cute they put their pictures next to one another.

Pristina Scenery

Pristina is the capital of Kosovo and the seat of the eponymous municipality and district. Its population is predominantly Albanian-speaking, constituting the second-largest such city in Europe, after Tirana.

Kosovo Fun Facts:

• The Olympic Games in Rio 2016 were the first to host athletes competing under the flag of Kosovo. 

• The national anthem, Europe, has no lyrics. The Albanian-speaking government decided not to risk offending Serbs who live in the country by having lyrics in Albanian.

• The name Kosovo is derived from a Serbian place-name meaning ‘field of blackbirds’.

Pristina

People in Kosovo love Madeleine Albright, who, 20 years ago, helped engineer the NATO air war that ousted Serbian forces. The statue of Albright is in the city center joining one of Clinton erected earlier on a boulevard named after him. More pictures to follow of Clinton later.

The Heroinat Memorial (HEROINAT) is a typographic sculpture and tourist attraction in Pristina, Kosovo. The monument focused on creating a representative face of Kosovar women. The project was conducted mostly with photographic research. It combined different portraits, isolated their most common features, remixed them, and created the representative portrait.

HEROINAT depicts an Albanian woman using 20,000 pins. Each pin represents a woman raped during the Kosovo War from 1998-1999. The pins are at different heights, creating a portrait in relief.

Newborn

The Newborn Monument (NEWBORN) is a typographic sculpture and tourist attraction in Pristina, Kosovo. Located in front of the Palace of Youth and Sports, the monument was unveiled on Feb. 17, 2008, the day that Kosovo formally declared its independence from Serbia.

At the unveiling of the monument it was announced that it will be painted differently on the anniversary of Kosovo's independence movement day every year. The monument attracted the attention of international media reporting Kosovo's movement declaration of independence, and it was featured prominently on the front page of The New York Times.

Fun Fact: It weighs 9 tons.