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| Terrorists Destroy Monuments of Culture One by One- Dramatic Disappearance of Evidence About Macedonia
(Utrinski Vesnik, 11.12.2001) - UNESCO representatives visited the occupied monastery in Matejce on Monday in order to ascertain the latest damages
Burning down and destruction of monastery church “St. Gjorgija” in Tetovo village Mala Recica faces us with the reality once again. Cultural monuments are systematically burnt down and destroyed before the eyes of everyone. As in the case of Lesok monastery, the terrorists touched the most sensitive part, they destroyed a cultural monument, but not on a regular day, and at the day of its holiday, when the church opens its gates to the followers and of those who come to feel a part of the energy of the space. Reports say that the fire was set on Saturday afternoon, thus destroying the remains of the monastery church, which was built 70 years ago, but also the remains of the 14th century church, which was filed as part of the cultural richness of the country.. What is accessible is the data from 1967, when the first expert inspection was done, and when Petar Miljkovik-Pepek revealed remains of an old church, on which foundations he found remains of frescos from the second half of the 14th century, a significant fact that confirms it is a significant cultural monument, not only in the Tetovo area, but also the history of Byzantine art. The fresco remains were brought for conservation, but there is not much knowledge of their whereabouts.
Petar Miljkovik-Pepek, upset by the information of the destruction of the monument, where he had done archaeological researches, stated: “It is unfortunate that there is no access to that territory at the moment. I cannot realise, why can’t I, as an expert, go there“.
This new episode of the improbable scenario is overlapped with the coming of the long-awaited UNESCO representatives, who arrived on December 5, with a plan to stay in Macedonia for one week and see how does the war influence our cultural richness. They came just in time to smell the smoke of war, to see how “modern creators” realise their future plans. EU, NATO and OSCE representatives, along with the representatives of the Republic Bureau for Protection of Cultural Monuments visited monastery “St. Holy Mother of God” in Matejce on Monday, and needed special guaranties for safe access. According to the statement of architect Mitko Prendjov, who is a representative of the Bureau in the expert team, there have been new damages to monastery complex Matejce after the inspection in September. The fresco art has been damaged with new grafitti, doors have been broken, the altar apse has been damaged, the church’s floor and its architecture. During the several hours of inspection, Prendjov, along with UNESCO representatives, noticed that the terrorists carried a part of the inventory with them, including the windows of the shelters.
During the visit, small church “St. Gjorgija”, dating from the 14th century has also been seen. It is a monument of culture, which, according to him, is totally destroyed. After the expert visit, the team was received in the Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Interior, while Lesok monastery and burnt church “St. Gjorgija” in Mala Recica are going to be visited today. UNESCO representatives did not present their impressions from the visit to the Macedonian public, while the wait for their expert opinion will be probably longer.
Neither the OCSE delegation, nor EU monitoring mission, which performed an inspection of the monastery on December 8 along with Tetovo fire fighters, came out publicly to convey what they had seen, show some photograph, because we are used to seeing our own “protected” cultural monuments on photographs made by them, and afterwards, after the terrain would be proclaimed as safe, at photographs of our own experts. This is a shameful part of the history of objects, which were built with a feeling of faith, love, respect, hope…
While UNESCO, OSCE and EU Monitoring Mission are present in Macedonia, the evidence about Macedonia dramatically disappears.
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