Written by Petrit Latifi

The following German publication from 1878, authoroed by Amand Freiherr von Schweiger-Lerchenfeld, describes how Rascia (Raska) and villages like Dugopolje of Sokobanja in Serbia was inhabited by Albanians.

“The population of Rascia is the Arnauts, namely of the Mohammedan faith, whose warlike qualities are said to be above all praise, but who are nevertheless at a level of culture which makes dealing with this rabid and feuding people very difficult. Everywhere between Sjenica and Novibazar on the stony plateau of the Dugopoljana lie the villages of these Arnauts, as well as the guard houses or karauls of the native Zaptiehs, which protect the way from time to time.

On this primitive stage route, one finally reaches the former residence of the Nemanjas, Novibazar, with its miserable streets and extremely poor houses, especially as regards the inns, about which the traveller Roskiewicz has a chapter to tell. The area to the east of the city is all the more interesting: the 1200-year-old octagonal dome of the Roman bath, which is still in use, and the equally ancient Petrovo Church, which is said to have once been a pagan temple, and finally in the north of the city on a hilltop of the Golia Planina, the beautifully situated ruins of the Jurjovi Stupovi monastery, inside of which there is still a fresco of Emperor Nemanja I.”

Reference

Amand Freiherr von Schweiger-Lerchenfeld, 1878. “Besnien, das Land und seine Bewohner, Geschichtlich, Geographisch, Ethnographisch und Social-politisch”. The University of Virginia. p. 77. Link.