National gallery

Galeria Kombëtare e Kosovës, Prishtinë

Every capital city in the world needs a national gallery – that’s also true for Prishtinë, Kosovo: the Galeria Kombëtare e Kosovës is located in a rather small building (which is very modern inside) which was built in 1935 as a barrack of the Yugoslavian army. The museum exists since 1976 and the building is now mostly used for changing exhibitions of contemporary local and international artists. Even if the state Kosovo is still young there is already a long history of regional artists.

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Museum of Kosovo

Muzeu i Kosovës, Prishtinë

The Muzeu i Kosovës at Prishtinë, Kosovo is a must-see if your interested in the ancient or younger history of this region. It is located in a nice former military building from 1889 in Austro-Hungarian style in the old city center. The museum dates back to the year 1949 and has two floors: on the lower one you can see an archeological exhibition with the queen on the throne (Mbretëresha në fron) as a highlight – which dates back to the New Stone Age. The upper floor contains items of the Kosovo war.

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Ethnological museum

Muzeu Etnologjik 'Emin Gjiku', Prishtinë

The ethnologic museum of Pristhinë, Kosovo is a rather small collection that should be seen as a department of the Museum of Kosovo. It is located in two wonderful ancient buildings in the old city center. The buildings and the items displayed within give a good insight how people at the Kosovo were living at the beginning of the 19th century. You can see furniture, tools, clothing, musical instruments and personal weaponry of this time.

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Osman mosques

Xhamia e Madhe, Prishtinë

Prishtinë, the capital city of Kosovo doesn’t have big mosque – even though 95 % of Kosovans are muslims. Therefore the believers use many small mosques throughout the city and in the old city center two beautiful Osman mosques can be found next to each other: the Xhamia e Madhe, the Xhamia e Jashar Pashës and the Xhamia e Çarshisë. When you’re visiting the Kosovo museum or the ethnologic museum take your time to stop there.

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National library

Biblioteka Kombëtare Pjetër Bogdani, Prishtinë

The Biblioteka Kombëtare e Kosovës ‘Pjetër Bogdani’ (BKK) at Pristhinë, Kosovo is maybe the most impressive building of the city. It is the largest library of the Kosovo and was founded at Prizren in 1944. It moved to the new building located at the university area near the city center of Pristhinë in 1982. The building was designed by Andrija Mutnjaković, is decorated with numerous steel elements and has 99 cupolas.

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Katedralja e së Lumes Nënë Tereza

Katedrala Majke Tereze, Prishtinë

Islam is the most important religion in Kosovo, 95 % of the Kosovans are muslims. Nevertheless the biggest and most visible house of prayer in Prishtinë is Roman-Catholic: the Mother Teresa Cathedral (Katedralja e së Lumes Nënë Tereza) at the Bulevardi Bill Klinton. While there is still no central big mosque and the muslims need to visit smaller distributed – often ancient – ones the Catholic church wanted to set a sign and the local government accepted and supported this.

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Nartel Hotel

Hotel Nartel, Prishtinë

The Nartel Hotel at Prishtinë, Kosovo is an excellent choice if you want to book a room in the quality known from good hotels at home. It is a four star hotel located south of the city center, but it is only a ten minutes walk to reach the interesting places of the city. In fact it was one of only a hand full of hotels that you can book online and the combination of price and location was best. The hotel seems to be often used by diplomats and KFOR/NATO representatives.

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Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton monument, Prishtinë

When you get to the city of Prishtinë, Kosovo you will discover the strong appreciation of the locals towards the 42nd president of the United States of America: Bill Clinton. A big road in the city center is named Bulevardi Bill Klinton (the ‘K’ is no joke) and a statue of him. While we remember him as the guy who betrayed his wife with a trainee (‘I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky‘) he is seen in much better light in Kosovo. Another national hero is his former foreign minister Madeleine Albright for whom another statue was built. Why is that?

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Navigation

Cruising, Kosovo

Driving a car in Kosovo is for sure possible – but I wouldn’t take my own car there. The road conditions are very good concerning motorways and major roads, but other roads are very bad. Outside of cities you might find yourself very soon on unpaved roads with a lot of water-filled holes and even in the outer areas of cities this can happen faster then you might think. But you will find a lot of car rental companies at the airport (including the big international companies).

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Aeroporti Ndërkombëtar i Prishtinës Adem Jashari

Aeroporti Ndërkombëtar i Prishtinës Adem Jashari, Prishtinë

The international airport of Prishtinë, Kosovo (airport code PRN) dates back to the year 1965 and is located 15 kilometers south of the city. It is named after Adem Jashari, one of the initiators of the liberation army UÇK. It is one of these smaller and hassle-free airports of the Balkans with short ways to walk and fast check-in, passport control and security check. You’ll find shops, coffee bars and restaurants here like in every good international airport.

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