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The Political Church The Political Church Heritage as a tool for engagement By Martin Pohl Archifutures The Church of Christ the Saviour in Pristina, was planned Martin Pohl as a Serbian Orthodox church during the conflict of the Martin Pohl is a German 1990s, when Slobodan Milošević attempted to consolidate architect and researcher. Serbian control over the (then) mainly Albanian province Educated at the Bauhaus University in Weimar and of Kosovo.1 By the time of its construction in the mid‑90s, Waseda University Tokyo much of this population had been pushed out of the he has been the chief‑editor of horizonte – Journal Kosovan capital’s city centre.2 Since then, the church has for Architectural Discourse, been neither finished nor destroyed. Its interim state an independent publication which has been exhibited reflects a political condition, symbolising the retreat of the worldwide. He has Serbian forces from the city and the fall of the Milošević collaborated with Studio Miessen Berlin on the spatial regime: a temporary state, preserved in architecture. This design for the Estonian th state, however, can be altered by changing perceptions Pavilion at the 55 Art Biennale in Venice and Sou of the building. Fujimoto Architects in Tokyo. He currently works for robertneun Architekten in Berlin. The Political Church is a project by Martin Pohl, Konrad Angermüller, Michael Kraus, Michael Ott and Matthias Schmitt. 1 Interview with Prof. Ass. Dr. Shemsi Krasniqi in Prishtina, February 7, 2014. 2 Denisa Kostovicova, “Kosovo: The Politics of Identity and Space”, Routledge Advances in European Politics 29 (London; New York: Routledge 2005). Opposite: The Church of Christ the Saviour. Photo: schmott This page: Detail of the Our ongoing research aims to look beyond the building Church of Christ the Saviour. as an illustration of Serbian nationalism and to instead Photo: schmott view it as a readable object in a post‑conflict debate about disputed architecture. It asks how we might deal with buildings like this in other post‑conflict situations, both locally and globally. The Political Church Between Consensus and Dissent Inside view. Photo: schmott 3 Interview with Rozafa In 1973, the Albanian architect Bashkin Femiu proposed a Basha in Prishtina, February new open‑plan campus for the University of Pristina.3 For 9, 2014. Albanians, this represented a site for the dissemination of 4 Interview with Ass. Prof. Dr. knowledge, not belief.4 But in 1989 a new masterplan by Shemsi Krasniqi in Prishtina, February 7, 2014. Serbian architect and urban planner Ljubiša Folić placed a church in a central position, a gesture that opposed the 5 Ljubiša Folić, Masterplan 5 for campus Prishtina, analiza former function of the campus area. arhitektonske forme, (Belgrade, 2005). The church’s final design, by Serbian architect Spasoje Krunić, was the winning entry to a 1991 competition and Archifutures one of numerous religious buildings initiated under the Milošević regime. If it had been completed, 1,389 golden crosses would have been engraved into its natural stone 6 façade – 1389 being the year that the Battle of Kosovo took 6 Interview Spasoje Krunić place, which was much mythologised by Serbian nationalists. in Belgrade, February 3, 2014. Nearly twenty years after the end of the conflict, the church’s future is still unclear. For several years, a rancorous dispute over its legal affiliation has been conducted between the Serbian Orthodox Church and the University of Pristina. However, instead of offering a resolution for the future, this ongoing debate seems only to cement the structure’s temporary state as permanent. It has in the meantime become a focal point of political demonstrations, a site for critical art installations and even a temporary squat at one point. In 1999, naTO‑led Kosovo Force soldiers erected a barbed Photo: schmott wire fence around the church.7 A uniform 50 metre 7 Interview Spasoje Krunić radius was drawn around Serbian sites after the end in Belgrade, February 3, 2014. Archifutures The Political Church Between Consensus and Dissent 8 Previous page: The Church of the war to protect them from revenge attacks. In and surrounding area. 2016, investigations by forensic experts led them to Photo: schmott suspect this contained area to be the site of a mass grave This page: The 50 Meter holding missing victims of the war, which has further photo series. The shards, 9 fragments and passing sensitised the debate about the future of the building. occupants in and around To explore this zone, we engaged in a visual conversation the ruin, from the pigeons to the scorch marks on the with the photographers SCHMOTT, exploring the site’s earth, are the disenchanted different spatial manifestations and trying to unravel equivalents of the frescoes and relics of the originally the multi‑layered and conflictual character of the ruin. planned architecture. These The resulting 50 Meter photo series does so without fragments and imprints could be regard as more important necessarily being bound to established methods and tools than the actual building of the architectural discipline. Within this perimeter we itself. Photos: schmott see a speculative arena for a vital critical debate regarding Archifutures the ruin’s own future as well as the question of collective 8 United Nations Security remembrance. Council, Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosovo Status Settlement, kuvendikosoves. It is important to state that that we do not necessarily org/common/docs/ Comprehensive%20 try to develop new architectural solutions and transform Proposal%20.pdf (accessed contested heritage physically. Instead, we focus on a October 5, 2018) description of the current state. The aim is to approach 9 prishtinainsight.com/ this case study, which itself lingers between coexistence search‑mass‑grave‑ university‑prishtina‑ and conflict, in an unbiased manner and consciously campus‑begins/ aware of our position as uninvited outsiders. (accessed October 5, 2018) Our endeavour to understand the forces that led to this ruined shell relies not upon “taking sides” but instead tracing how existing narratives around the political church are used to serve different opinions. Our ultimate aim is to open up a broader debate: how might interaction with an unwanted, politically‑charged and contested building enable a shift towards a more active and continuous form of discourse – legal, architectural and political? .
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