The restoration of Xhafer Deva's house in Mitrovica, which three years ago was the subject of a wave of reactions for and against the restoration, cost over half a million euros.
From December 2024 until now, the Minister of Culture, Hajrulla Çeku has published several announcements with pictures on his Facebook account about the restoration of this house, considering it as one of the successes of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports ( MKRS) for the past year.
But experts in the field say that the restoration has left almost nothing of the originality that this house once had. Remarks have also been made about the closing of one of the windows of the monument after the restoration.
Since 2012, Xhafer Deva's house is on the Cultural Heritage List and is protected by the state.
In a response to the portal, MKRS said that the restoration of Deva's house in Mitrovica cost a total of 584,176.56 euros.
"Basic contract: 489,980.00 euros, additional work: 48,980.06 euros, unforeseen work: 45,216.50 euros", says the MKRS response about the expenses incurred for the restoration of this monument.
Meanwhile, the Kosovo Institute for the Protection of Monuments (IKMM) said that the restoration was carried out according to a plan approved by them and that the closed window on the western facade did not exist before the 1990s.
"The currently most realized project of the asset in question was realized according to the project approved in IKMM, while for the closed window on the western facade, it was a lighting space which was opened during the use of the building by the residents during the 1990s/2000s. while in the documents of the original state of the asset, the western facade is completely closed without lighting spaces, this documentation which was taken as a basis during the design of the project for conservation interventions and restorative", said IKMM.
How much has the originality of the object been preserved?
The historian, Enis Kelmendi, said that almost nothing remained of the originality of the monument after the restoration.
"According to the scientific criteria, any heritage object that needs intervention must be reconstructed, while the object in question has reached the level of renovation where almost nothing remains of its originality, such as the facade, the windows, the exterior plastic, the exterior of the frames to the windows, etc. As for the covered window, it is true that that window on the western side of the building existed, but was closed by MKRS", said Kelmendi.
in Monuments (IKMM) have said that the restoration was done according to the plan approved by them and that the closed window on the western facade did not exist before the 1990s.
Kelmendi said that even the facade of the building after the renovation does not match the originality.
View of the Xhafer Deva House after restoration.
"Changes have also been made at the top of the building, which is not as original as it was, the facade of this building is so-called in the jargon of builders FULL FACADE which does not coincide with the original" - asserted the historian Kelmendi.
Destination of the object
The MCYS has said that the restored house of Xhafer Deva will be a multifunctional center.
"The monument is planned to have a multifunctional destination: Work space where the Regional Cultural Heritage Center of Mitrovica will be located; work space where the NGO with cultural programs will be located; space where works of art can be exhibited", MKRS said.
Debates about restoration
The restoration of Xhafer Deva's house started in 2018, after a fire that destroyed the building in 2015.
But in February 2022, the plan to restore Deva's house prompted a wave of reactions, whether it should be restored.
It was the German ambassador in Kosovo, Jörn Rohde, who on 7.02.2022, through a post on 'X" (Twitter), expressed his concern regarding the plans of the MKRS for the restoration of this monument, whose former owner, Xhafer Deva is known as a close collaborator of the Nazis during the Second World War.
"Very concerned about the plans to restore the house of Xhafer Deva, a known Nazi collaborator/protagonist of the infamous SS Skanderbeg Div. No whitewashing of history! Don't distort the truth about the Holocaust or the war crimes committed by the Nazis and local collaborators, Defend the Facts," Ambassador Rohde wrote in "X," Ambassador Rohde said.
His reaction was followed by numerous counter-reactions, while Minister Hajrulla Çeku, on 09.2.2022, announced during a media conference that MKRS will not withdraw from the restoration of the monument.
Xhafer Deva from Mitrovica is known as a collaborator of the German Nazis. He was the organizer of the establishment of the "Albanian Union of Prizren" organization and is considered the originator of the establishment of the SS "Skanderbeg" military division. Deva served as Albania's Minister of Internal Affairs during 1943-1944, when the country was under the control of Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime.
View of the Xhafer Deva House before restoration.
According to MKRS data, Deva's house was built in the 1930s, in the old core of the city of Mitrovica. /Kallxo.com/
Old view of Xhafer Deva's House. Photo: Facebook/Hajrulla Çeku.
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