In the gate of St. Peter's Church in Novi Pazar, a building is being built "so that the Bishop of Raška-Prizren could fulfill his whim to dine here, because he seems to have renounced the seat of Kosovo", wrote Bojana Selaković, coordinator of the National Convention on the European Union
U St. Peter's Church courtyard u Novi Pazru The Diocese of Raško-Prizren is building a large facility. The Ministry of Tourism and Youth and the Tourism Organization of Novi Pazar help her financially in this.
Peter's Church, as part of the whole of Stari Ras with Sopoćani, has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1979, and is the oldest building of church architecture in Serbia. If the construction is not stopped, there is a strong possibility that UNESCO will delete St. Peter's Church from the World Heritage List.
The object in question has not been completed, but it can already be seen that it will tower over Peter's church.
The assembly of citizens and experts believe that this is unacceptable.
It is not a political West.
Bojana Selaković, coordinator of the National Convention on the European Union (NKEU), published X photos online, along with the following text:
"The whole machinery is harnessed to find legal and financial mechanisms in order to fulfill the whim of the Bishop of Rask-Prizren to sit here, because it seems that he has renounced the seat of Kosovo. The institution in charge of overseeing cultural heritage, under the pretext of building a small visitor center, designed a building for accommodation and accommodation that will surpass the size of the church and that on the site of a centuries-old necropolis that has not been fully explored, on the foundations of a building that has not yet been determined he served the woman."
She also pointed out that Peter's church had no chance "in the general hype surrounding the General Staff, which was bombed in 1999, because the evil that is done to it cannot be connected to the 'political West' in any way, and the damage caused by the construction of this building cannot be used to mobilize against the government, because very few people understand it".
"We can only hope that those who plan to sleep on these layers of graves and bones will have a peaceful sleep," added Bojana Selaković.
Chorus: Hypocrisy of the RZZSK
In December 2025, the Novi Pazar Citizens' Assembly publicly condemned the construction works in the port of Peter's church. They say that the project is presented as "construction and revitalization of the northern building" and "visitor center", but the real truth is that a diocesan home is being built to accommodate church members.
The choir stated that it is a modern building of 37 meters in length, which with its dimensions and appearance completely deviates from the environment and historical facts, that it is built on archaeological layers that have not been fully explored, and that protective research has indicated that there are other buildings underneath, but this "reconstruction" does not take this into account, building foundations over history.
"We consider it the height of hypocrisy that Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, a partner in this project, whose employees are currently defending the General Staff building in Belgrade, allows and supervises the destruction of UNESCO sites here in Novi Pazar", stated the Citizens' Assembly and asked if UNESCO was informed about these works in the zone of its protection.
Explanation of the RZZSK
The Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments has published a text about this on its website. They explain that back in the mid-1990s, a conceptual solution for the protection and arrangement of the Peter's Church complex was drawn up, which adopted minimal interventions, with the reconstruction of the Northern Building at the existing location, that this project was developed in 2017 and that in 2021, the Serbian Orthodox Church initiated a change of purpose - from a parish house to a diocesan center.
Regarding this change, they received an opinion from ICOMOS "that a change of purpose is only possible within the existing dimensions, that if the Church needed larger spaces, it would only be acceptable for such a building to be built outside the protected area of the gate".
In 2022, the Republic Institute prepared a new conceptual solution, the Project for the Revitalization and Construction of the Northern Building in the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, at the request of the Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church of Raška-Prizren, which is also the investor.
The purpose of the project was changed, but the capacity and height of the building were not increased, so the requirements of ICOMOS were respected.
Who is to blame
"The key difference relates to the presentation of the walls of the medieval building (discovered in the aforementioned archaeological research) and which are not an integral part of the new building, but will be covered and publicly accessible. In this way, the new project simultaneously meets the requirements of heritage protection and the investor's request for a change of purpose, without any increase in the scope of construction," announced the Republic Institute.
After all the necessary procedures, the project received a building permit on September 12, 2024.
What happened after that is not within the competence of the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments.
Source: N1
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