The latest example of deleting the name of the 14th century Serbian Orthodox monastery Visoki Dečani, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, from the Google Maps is an open provocation that is repeated for the third time in recent years. Regional Google Maps administrators for this part of the Balkans are responsible for this incident as well as those who served them false information.
Sreenshot of the Monastery before the deletion of the name, Google maps
This latest affair not only make access to the monastery more difficult, but it shows that one monastery can be deleted from the Google maps overnight, and apparently only because it is Serbian Orthodox and this fact bothers someone. In previous years, we were deliberately relocated us near Leskovac, outside Kosovo and Metohija, and the second time the Monastery name was replaced by the name of the Kosovo Albanian owned hotel 4 km away from the monastery, and now the Monastery name has been erased and its pin location placed it in the center of Dečani town.
The Monastery how it currently looks on Google maps - the name has been deleted
It is clear to anyone familiar with the functioning of Information technologies that this is not an accidental mistake, but an open provocation, especially having in mind previous cases. And it is not difficult to guess who is behind it and what the reasons are as Dečani Monastery is exposed to open threats and attacks by Kosovo Albanian nationalists and in the recent time by the leaders of the nationalistic Kosovo Government which openly promotes ethnic clean Albanian Kosovo. For the visitors of the Monastery it is now more difficult to find their way to this important medieval monument because local Kosovo Albanian authorities persistently refuse to put up adequate signs about one of the most important historical buildings in Kosovo, which is also under UNESCO protection. Visitors often wander into the side streets and the only real sign is right next to the monastery grounds, where it is guarded by KFOR forces. All this speaks of the attitude of the local authorities towards the monastery.
Visoki Dečani Monastery is facing not only constant pressure from the Kosovo authorities and persistent efforts to change the history of the monastery, but it seems that the monastery may be easily deleted from the map, not to mention four armed attacks by local Albanian extremists in previous years (grenades, RPG attack, ISIS graffiti etc). All this once again shows the degree of endangerment of this medieval SMonastery as well as the entire heritage of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo as well as the necessity of its comprehensive protection from those who would overnight change history and prevent normal life of this holy place that has been a living place of worship for seven centuries.
Visoki Dečani Monastery
February 19, 2022
Publication on the Kossev news portal about the latest incident:
The Monastery has been relocated to the location where it is not located