ÉGLISE SAINT-ANTOINE DE BINÇA/BINAČ

This modern Catholic church (Kisha e Shna Ndout, Crkva Svetog Antonija) is astonishing for its octagonal shape, but even more so for its realistic and somewhat kitschy wall paintings. Located in the village of Binça/Binač (1,100 inhabitants, 98% Albanians), it was built in stone by local masons in 1968-1972, then decorated in 1989-1990 by two local artists: Demir Behluli (b. 1938) and Zeqirja Rexhepi (b. 1955), a renowned painter now living in Canada. Below scenes from the New and Old Testaments, six large panels describe the "Albanian persecution" of 1846. In 1839, the Ottoman Empire undertook a major reform that included greater tolerance of Christians. The laramanë (Albanian cryptocatholics) of Kosovo interpreted this as an opportunity to live their faith in the open. Several communities like Prizren were recognized by the Ottomans in 1845.

Exodus and Noah's ark. The Laramanë of the Viti/Vitina region tried to obtain the same right, but their representatives were imprisoned in Skopje and Constantinople. On their return in 1846, they made the same request to the local governor Maliq Bey. They are represented here in traditional Albanian clothes facing the official dressed in the oriental style. Maliq Bey was afraid that mass conversions would destabilize Kosovo. He decided to make an example of them by expelling 150 laramanë and priests from the region to Turkey. After a last mass, they took the road to exile, on foot, then by boat. Twenty of them died on the way and seventy others died in Turkey, due to particularly harsh living conditions. The survivors were finally allowed to return to Kosovo in 1848. The panel above the main entrance is occupied by portraits of Skenderbeg and Mother Teresa surrounded by those of the Catholic writers and priests Shtjefën Gjeçovi (1874-1929) and, on the left, Pjetër Bogdani (c. 1630-1689). This unique church is dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua, but also to the "Curé d'Ars", the French saint Jean-Marie Vianney (1786-1859), seen here as a symbol of Catholic resistance to oppression. In Viti/Vitina, the Church of the Sacred Heart, completed in 2007, is worth a visit for its Noah's Ark shape, which also evokes the journey of the Laramanë of 1846.