by Genc Gripshi. Translation Petrit Latifi

Summary

Miroslaw Kauçky’s article “Cities of Central Albania,” published in Per Orientin (1916), describes the town of Peqin, its urban features, and the fortified houses of local beys. It also presents new information about the 1912 clashes at Peqin’s eastern entrance, where forces led by Kadri Bey Bonati fought Serbian troops who bombarded the town, destroying Osman Aga Dervishi’s oil mill. The article notes that Metropolitan Jakov of Durrës helped secure Bonati’s release and mentions a non-functioning fountain in the bazaar. Separate from this account, later events in 1913 involved Serbian forces looting valuable cultural artifacts from Peqin and transporting them to Belgrade.

In Peqin in 1913, Serbian troops removed a white Proconnesian marble lid of an Illyrian sarcophagus from Peqin Castle.

Miroslaw Kauçky’s article “Cities of Central Albania,” published in the Austrian monthly magazine Per Orientin (January–June 1916) by the K.K. Museum of Austrian Trade in Vienna, provides both known and new historical information about the town of Peqin. In addition to describing the city and the fortified houses of its beys, the article reveals details about the 1912 clashes at the eastern entrance of Peqin, where local forces led by Kadri Bey Bonati fought Serbian troops.

The Serbian army shelled Peqin with artillery, destroying, among other buildings, the oil mill of Osman Aga Dervishi, which was equipped with a 12-horsepower kerosene engine. The article also notes that Metropolitan Jakov of Durrës assisted in securing Kadri Bey Bonati’s release and mentions that a fountain in the Peqin bazaar was no longer functioning at the time.

The material by Kauçky was sourced from Fatos Bajraktari and appears in the first part of the post. The second part is unrelated to Kauçky’s article and focuses on events from 1913, when Serbian forces looted important cultural artifacts from Peqin.

These included the carved wooden ceiling of Demir Pasha Bonati’s Selamllëk and the ivory elements of the courtyard fountain, which were dismantled by specialists and transported to Belgrade, where they are now held in the Cultural Heritage Museum.

Serbian troops also removed a white Proconnesian marble lid of an Illyrian sarcophagus from Peqin Castle. Attempts were made to take valuables from the Peqin Mosque and the Clock Tower, but these efforts were unsuccessful, and two heavy safes could not be removed.