Peja, the Kosovo City Where Serbian Orthodoxy Guards Its Oldest Frescoes

Kosovo is not the place you'd expect to find on an undertourism blog: it is one of the least visited countries in Europe, with a tourism industry still in its infancy and hospitality infrastructure growing year by year. But Peja — Peć in Serbian — is different. It is Kosovo's second most historically important city after Prizren, the gateway to the spectacular Rugova Gorge, and home to one of the most extraordinary medieval monuments in the entire Balkan peninsula: the Patriarchate of Peć, four churches in one, whose interior walls are covered in 13th- and 14th-century frescoes that have survived centuries of war, occupation and earthquakes.

The Patriarchate: four churches, seven hundred years of history

The monastic complex of the Patriarchate of Peć was founded in the 13th century and became, with the creation of the Serbian Patriarchate in 1346, the seat of the Orthodox patriarchs of Serbia — a function it maintained for centuries, even during the Ottoman occupation. The four churches — of the Holy Apostles, Saint Demetrius, the Virgin Hodegetria and the Virgin Odigitria — are connected by a single narthex and form a unique ensemble in medieval Serbian architecture. The interior frescoes, dated between 1230 and 1330, show icons of kings and saints in colours still vivid. Access requires a passport; individual visits are possible without a mandatory guide, for a voluntary contribution.

The Rugova Gorge and climbing

Ten minutes from the centre of Peja begins the Rugova Gorge: 25 kilometres of limestone canyon where vertical walls rise up to 1,000 metres above the valley floor. The road that climbs the gorge to mountain villages is driveable or cyclable; for sport climbers, the rock faces offer over 150 routes opened in recent years by Kosovar guides and European alpinists.

Getting there and finding your way

Peja is about 95 kilometres from Pristina: regular buses connect it daily for less than four euros. The Patriarchate is reachable on foot from the centre in twenty to twenty-five minutes, along a tree-lined avenue that follows the Bistrica Pejës river. Visiting hours vary: best to arrive in the morning. The best months are May, June and September.