Europe Day in Kosovo is also marked with activities of cultural heritage

In the framework of activities of European Day - May 9 and the European Year of Cultural Heritage, at the EU Office in Kosovo was organized the conference "Cultural Heritage in Kosovo - Ulpiana Archaeological Park", cooperation of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports and the Embassy of France in Kosovo.

On behalf of MCYS, the Deputy Minister of MCYS, Burbuqe Bakija-Deva spoke at the conference, who expressed the pleasure that Kosovo's cultural heritage is part of the program for marking Kosovo's Day in Kosovo.

Speaking about marking this day, the deputy minister said that as in other countries, Kosovo promotes peace and unity, this time through cultural heritage, while highly appreciating the cooperation with the EU Office and the French Embassy.

Deputy Minister Bakija-Deva expressed the willingness of MCYS to cooperate on other joint initiatives in the protection, preservation and promotion of cultural heritage as an integral part of European and world heritage.

"Of course, we expect a lot of work, as an institution, as a society, as a new state. Of course, we have many challenges ahead of us", said the deputy minister, among other things, offering a summary information about the work planned this year.

"In accordance with the Work Plan and Budget, we will be working on many archaeological sites such as: Vucak Castle, Prizren Castle, Novobërdë, Korishë, Keqekolles, Harilaq, Dersnik locality and Ulpiana Archaeological Park - one of the localities with visited in recent years. Last year, the Archaeological Park hosted 23,000 visitors, while in the period January 1 to May 1, 2018 hosted 7,000 visitors", said Deputy Minister.

The deputy minister said that very soon the MCYS will present to the public some of the most important expeditions of last year's expeditions and also announced the preparation of a new documentary for Ulpiana and many other novelties.

She also spoke about the architectural heritage, highlighting the fact that the Historic Center of Prizren remains a priority and other buildings classified as important monuments of importance, such as the former KASA building in Pristina, IKMM building, other traditional houses in Peja, Mitrovica, Ferizaj, Gjakova and other municipalities.

"We have initiated the procedure for the construction of the Natural History Museum as one of the capital projects, and soon we begin the signing of the Cultural Heritage at the country level. Further efforts will be made to further complete the exhibition at the Kosovo Museum and full functionality of the Ethnographic Complex "Emin Giku" in Prishtina", she said by providing institutional support for promotion and paying special attention to defense preventing unauthorized activities and undertaking measures against abusers.

French Ambassador to Kosovo, Didier Chabert, said European peoples are united by history, culture and heritage.

"Except that is the European year, is particularly the year of cultural heritage. To remind us that we European people have things that separate us, but we also have things that unite us. The things that unite us are history, culture and heritage", he said among other things.

While the representative of the EU Office, Riccardo Serri, stressed that cultural diversity is the basis of the European Union, giving it a special role to cultural heritage.