FACTA UNIVERSITATIS Series: Architecture and Civil Engineering Vol. 15, No 3, 2017, pp. 277-294 https://doi.org/10.2298/FUACE160428025G ARCHITECTURE IN ŠAR MOUNTAIN VILLAGES UDC 711.3 Nebojša S. Gadžić University of Priština, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Kosovska Mitrovica, Serbia Abstract. The development of settlements in the area of Sredačka, Sirinićka and Goranska parishes should be seen in the context of entire Šar Mountain, Kosovo and South-Western Balkans, where these high mountain parishes are located. We can record the development of settlements in these Šar Mountain parishes from its beginnings in this part of our country, since the Neolithic period, through the ancient and early Christian period, followed by the Middle Ages and up to the present day. There are visible traces of Pelasgic, Illyrian, Thracian, in some parts Hellenistic, Roman, Slavic and Turkish- Oriental influences and ethnic presence in these parishes. All these ethnic processes, in conjunction with the natural environment and the socio-economic circumstances, had their historical impact on the evolutionary development of the Šar-mountain rural settlements. Rural settlements, villages, were built on sites that permitted the production activity, with frequent cases of renewal of existing settlements and the establishment of the new ones in their immediate vicinity. The Medieval Serbian state led to strengthening of the existing settlements, founding of the new ones, expansion of the existing ones and the receiving specific tasks and obligations arising from the feudal social order. These commitments were given in a number of charters and grants of Serbian emperors, kings and nobles. These liabilities from the medieval period would result in the emergence and subsequent smooth development of "pečalbarenje" as a process that was very important for the development of rural settlements in the Šar mountain parishes. Key words: Šar Mountain, villages, type, effects, parish, "pečalbarenje". 1. INTRODUCTION Words: village, hamlet and livestock apartment in the mountain are of the Serbian linguistic background. In addition to these words, in the area of Šar Mountain, the Albanian words for a village (fshat) and summer house (Katund or pasture) are also used. According to the Dušan's Code the latter implies a place for pasture and housing of several families during the summer period. Temporary livestock apartment has its own Received April 28, 2016 / Accepted June 30, 2016 Corresponding author: Nebojša S. Gadţić University of Priština, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Kosovska Mitrovica, Serbia E-mail: [email protected] 278 N. S. GADŢIĆ Aromanian (Vlach) name with two possible forms that are often used, which are:” baĉilo” or “mandra”. In the early medieval period, the concept of the village also referred to one house or village court where, in the context of cooperative community, a large number of household members used to live [21]. In the later period, the word village in the edict with a gold seal of King Dragutin and other members of the Nemanjić dinasty, implies a greater group of houses, and a small group of houses scattered around the larger villages was known as the common name: the hamlet. Under the concept of village settlement we mean a village with a larger population. In the Šar-mountain range there still is a great number of villages of which in Sredaĉka parish there are 13 rural settlements with 10.100 inhabitants. In other parishes there are 16 villages, with 12.601 inhabitants in Sirinićka parish, while Goranska parish comprises of 17 villages with about 17.574 residents [22] (Figure 1). Fig. 1 Geographical position Šar Mountain and its parishes in Serbia Architecture in Šar Mountain Villages 279 2. EVOLUTIONARY DEVELOPMENT AND AGE OF THE SETTLEMENT About the origin of Šar Mountain oldest villages there are no written data or archaeological finds. According to tradition, the first settlement in the area of the high mountain parishes should be sought in the existence of numerous caves in which, during the last ice age, prehistoric people lived. These are the first possible habitats. The following sites: "large stones" above the village Planjane, "Marina dupka" above the village of Lower Ljubinja, "Peć" above the hamlet Pejĉići, "Vrbeštiĉke pećine" and "KaluĊerov kamen" near Gora and Opolje, from ancient times were desirable shelter and the first place to live in for the numerous prehistoric community. Thanks to the natural environment that is rich in many resources there, the Paleolithic man and his animals were able to stay in this area for thousands of years. As a relic evidence of that favorable - thermal microclimate which was certainly essential for human survival in such environment, today there is an indigenous pine species "munika" and "visnata bukva" beech. They are a piece of evidence of the temperate climate which was present during the last ice age. Due to the exceptional and vast expanse of pastures, Šar Mountain is a provider of ideal opportunities for the development of livestock keeping and is inhabited since ancient times by those first "Alpine orogeny", its prehistoric inhabitants. Their homes in the later period were erected outside the caves, in the valley of the Dupniĉka river, the base and walls of these houses can be recognized under the rocky "okapnina". Because of the mentioned rich pastures and water Šara Mountain had attracted a lot of cattle breeders from the ancient countries. We have written information that the Pelasgians, the first ancient people who settled Šar-mountain and gave it the name of their deity, the goddess Ishara [12] and later the mountain got its present Slavonic name Šar Mountain. The people who used to stay on its wide space, founded their temporary (nomadic) or permanent settlement at the convenient locations. Even the significant altitude at which the villages were formed did not represent any obstacle in their emergence and development. The average altitude of the village Brod located in Gors is about 1,350 m [5]. Other permanent settlements - villages lie at an average altitude of about 800 m. Summer apartments - "baĉilo" and "mandra", are located at much higher altitudes - from about 1700 m. The most famous "baĉilo" are located at the foot of Ljuboten top and they are named after the nearby villages where they belong, so we have: "Firaja stan", "Bojevo", "Prevalaĉka or Šutmanska baĉila". This is only a brief overview of the type and age of the villages themselves in the distant past, which is equally present in the high mountainous zone and the parishes. The mentioned zones determine their degree of continuity in terms of their use throughout the year, look (Figure 2 i 3). Šar Mountain is accessible and passable in all directions. Thanks to the mountain "presedlina" (ridges), from Metohija basin and Prizren people could easily arrive in Polog and the Skopje valley. Over Sredska, Prevalac and Sirinićka parish one way led to the Kosovo valley and the river Morava and the other direction, across Opolje, led to Gora and central Albania. As for the further development of the first permanent village settlements, we should bear in mind one important fact: in these areas, in particular at the site known as "Prehval" (Prevalac), there was the court or the Prince Ostrojilo's Palace. He is a ruler of pre-Nemanjić dinasty period who ruled in the sixth century [20]. 280 N. S. GADŢIĆ Fig. 2 Šar Mountain Fig. 3 Šar Mountain, village Sredska Architecture in Šar Mountain Villages 281 The Slavic Christian "mogila" ("gromile") and "igrište" at the "Ravna gora" which is located near the village Vrbeštica in Sirinićka parish also date from this period [4]. In the central part of Sirinić a tomb of a prince from the Bronze Age was detected, as well as several movable finds from the Iron Age, also in this parish. All this tells us of the continuity of settlement and housing in the Šar mountain parishes which lasts as a continuous process of evolution for thousands of years. Many rulers had their endowments and the villages in the parish - from the aforementioned Prince Ostrojlo, over emperors and kings, Samuel, Bodin, Milutin and to Dušan. Besides them, the founders of temples, but also managers of the villages, were the local dukes as Kaliniks [8]. The first villages on Šar Mountain, according to the surviving national legends, had existed even before the first written evidence originating from the XIV century. In the Emperor Stefan Dusan's edict with a gold seal from the monastery of the Holy Archangels a number of villages and churches, that he gave to his endowment - the mentioned monastery Holy Archangel near Prizren, were mentioned. The church of St. Petka, which is the boundary between the villages Sredska and Planjane, was also mentioned. Country churches were built of stone and could only exist in the villages, which had a larger population, and therefore greater economic and employment potential which would be one of the most important factors for the appearance of masonry craft in the villages of Sredaĉka parish. Such natural conditions, but also the material evidence referred to above and the toponomy tell us that today's villages in the Šar mountain parishes are at the same locations where they used to be in the past, during the medieval period. Their continuity was not lost even during the five centuries of the Ottoman rule, having endured and grown at the same locations [18]. During this period, especially after the First Austrian-Turkish war in 1689, there was a significant migratory movement of the population with partial, and in some villages collective–islamization of the indigenous Serbian population. This process of religious transformation - converting of the population, would undoubtedly lead to the changes in the urban structure of the rural settlements, but nevertheless, to this day there are numerous elements, primarily of the social rural communities, that bear witness to of the rich ethno-cultural, customary, legal and architectural heritage of our Šar-mountain parishes.