Mushtisht

Mushtisht
Village
The Church of Virgin Hodegetria before its destruction
Mushtisht
Location in Kosovo
Coordinates: 42°17′55″N 20°53′20″E / 42.29861°N 20.88889°E / 42.29861; 20.88889
Location Kosovo
DistrictPrizren
MunicipalitySuhareka
Population
 (2024)[1]
 • Total
2,512
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)

Mushtisht or Mušutište (Serbian Cyrillic: Мушутиште) is a village in the Suhareka municipality in Kosovo. It is located to the west of the Nerodimka mountain. It once had 10 medieval Serbian Orthodox churches, including the notable Church of Virgin Hodegetria, which was destroyed in 1999.

The village used to have a mixed Albanian-Serbian population. According to the 1991 census, it had 5,016 inhabitants.

Most of the village's Serb population left immediately after the withdrawal of the Yugoslav Army and Serbian police from Kosovo in June 1999. Only 25, mostly elderly, stayed behind. Twelve of the remaining villagers were abducted on 15 June 1999, six of whom were later confirmed killed and six of whom are still listed as missing.[2] All the remaining Serb houses were subsequently set on fire and most of their properties usurped. Since the war, the return of the village's former Serb inhabitants has been actively opposed by Kosovo Albanian groups.[3]

History

The village was first mentioned in a Serbian charter dating to 1315. In a charter of Emperor Stephen Uroš IV Dušan, dating to 1348, Mušutište, along with the churches of Virgin Hodegetria and St. Symeon (Sv. Simeona), were granted (metochion) to the Saint Archangels Monastery in Prizren. The churches were destroyed after the 1999 conflict.[4]

Demographic history
Ethnic group 1948 1953 1961 1971 1981[5] 1991
Albanians 2,980
Serbs 1,173
Others 2
Total[6] 2,346 2,541 2,816 3,307 4,155 5,016

Notable people

References

  1. ^ "Popullsia sipas gjinisë, etnicitetit dhe vendbanimit" [Population by gender, ethnicity, and place of residence] (PDF) (in Albanian). Prishtinë: Kosovo Agency of Statistics. July 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ Abductions and Disappearances of Non-Albanians in Kosovo (PDF), Humanitarian Law Center, p. 206
  3. ^ Ristic, Marija; Hasanaj, Cazim (29 August 2016). "Violent Protest Against Kosovo Serbs Condemned". Balkan Insight. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  4. ^ "In pictures: Kosovo's devastated churches". BBC News. 18 December 2001. Archived from the original on 4 December 2007. Retrieved 22 October 2025.
  5. ^ 1981 Census, Kosovo
  6. ^ Kosovo censuses 1948-1991