DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/6s6h-ye55
Biographical Information // Informations biographiques
Arnisa Kryeziu is an architect specialized in Architectural Restoration, currently residing in Prishtina. Since December 2014, Arnisa has been part of the academic structure of Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, at University for Business and Technology in Prishtina, (Kosovo), working as an assistant professor in Maintenance and Architectural Restoration and Studio Design. Partially, Arnisa is active in a local architecture office whose practice is focused mainly on adaptive reuse and restoration. Research projects, the most recent one being Architectural Guidebook of Kosovo are an inseparable part of Arnisas' practice in cultural heritage.
Caroline Jäger-Klein is the president of ICOMOS Austria and is an Associate Professor of Architectural History at the Technical University of Vienna, since 2006. Moreover, she is a visiting lecturer at UBT Kosovo and the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre in Brazil. Caroline has been involved in various research projects in the field of cultural heritage, the latest one being about Islamic Architecture and Orientalizing Style in Habsburg Bosnia and Architectural Guidebook of Kosovo. She is also a Board Member of Cultural Heritage without Borders, CHwB Kosovo.
Keywords
cultural landscapes, rural heritage, trading routes, cultural exchange, tourism accelerators, rural-urban communities, cross country revival, heritage trails
Abstract // Résumé
Trading routes have been aligning different parts of the world since prehistoric times, transporting scarce commodities from one area to another. Primarily, the majority of these routes had military character used during wars in enlarging territories but with the flourishing of trade in agriculture, craftsmanship, and mining, they gained important economic value. Parallel to this exchange of goods, these communication systems expedited influences and cultural exchange in cuisine, traditions, religion, crafts, arts and architecture.
Main centers of present day Kosovo and Albania were part of this dense communication network for trading activities, for example Via Egnatia, Via de Zenta and more. Historical infrastructure that remains today such as bridges, khans (inns), bazaars, road defense towers and remnants of road pavements are testimonials of this worldwide trading interchange. Such structures were a monetary investment of powerful guilds, carefully created from widely renowned local masons and stone cutters with an intuitive awareness in creating complementary harmony between the nature and tectonics of structures, now deeply embedded in the rural and urban tissue.
This article identifies these forgotten cultural and trading structures as potential tourism accelerators in rural and urban communities, especially in remote regions far from the main centers of tourism attractions. As these structures were part of a large trading constellation, they cannot be interpreted, neither understood as singular structures, therefore revival strategies should be based on holistic, cross-national tourism strategies and recognition. One strategic methodology can easily link different sites into singular or several cross-national themed heritage trails with combined transportation and manifestations through land and sea. These can create alternatives for community-based rural tourism as a part of a wider tourism circuit, returning the economic prosperity these routes brought.
Bibliographic References // Références Bibliographiques
[1] Shtylla, V. (1989) Rrugët dhe urat e vjetra në Shqipëri (Old routes and bridges in Albania), Tirana.
[2] Shtylla, V. (1983) Te dhenat mbi rruget dhe urat e vjetra ne kosove (The data on old routes and bridges of Kosovo), Monumentet 1:19-32.
[3] Constantin, J. (1879) Trading Routes and Mines within Serbia and Bosnia during the Medieval Times, Prague.
[4] Manhas, P. S., P. Kour and A. Bhagata (2014) A Silk route in the light of circuit tourism: An avenue of tourism internationalization. 5th Asia Euro Conference in Tourism, Hospitality and Gastronomy, Malaysia, May 2014; Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 144, 143-150.
Included in
Architectural Engineering Commons, Cultural Resource Management and Policy Analysis Commons, Historic Preservation and Conservation Commons, Landscape Architecture Commons, Tourism and Travel Commons
Historic Trading Routes in Kosovo and Albania and their Potential in Improving Rural Tourism through Cross National Approaches
Trading routes have been aligning different parts of the world since prehistoric times, transporting scarce commodities from one area to another. Primarily, the majority of these routes had military character used during wars in enlarging territories but with the flourishing of trade in agriculture, craftsmanship, and mining, they gained important economic value. Parallel to this exchange of goods, these communication systems expedited influences and cultural exchange in cuisine, traditions, religion, crafts, arts and architecture.
Main centers of present day Kosovo and Albania were part of this dense communication network for trading activities, for example Via Egnatia, Via de Zenta and more. Historical infrastructure that remains today such as bridges, khans (inns), bazaars, road defense towers and remnants of road pavements are testimonials of this worldwide trading interchange. Such structures were a monetary investment of powerful guilds, carefully created from widely renowned local masons and stone cutters with an intuitive awareness in creating complementary harmony between the nature and tectonics of structures, now deeply embedded in the rural and urban tissue.
This article identifies these forgotten cultural and trading structures as potential tourism accelerators in rural and urban communities, especially in remote regions far from the main centers of tourism attractions. As these structures were part of a large trading constellation, they cannot be interpreted, neither understood as singular structures, therefore revival strategies should be based on holistic, cross-national tourism strategies and recognition. One strategic methodology can easily link different sites into singular or several cross-national themed heritage trails with combined transportation and manifestations through land and sea. These can create alternatives for community-based rural tourism as a part of a wider tourism circuit, returning the economic prosperity these routes brought.