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Photo: Fissnik, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Beledija (Ndërtesa e Kuvendit të Vjetër) is the building where the first Municipal Assembly of Prizren was held at the end of the 19th century. The building is used as an information center for cultural inheritance and for tourists’ orientation.
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Once functioning as a Turkish bathhouse and built by Ahmet Shemsedin Bey in 1498 although possibly dating to back before this time, Prizren’s Archaeological Museum opened its doors in 1975. Now fully renovated in one of the loveliest interiors in Prizren, the museum holds over 800 items of archaeological interest from antiquity to the 19th century, discovered in Prizren, Dragash, Rahovec and Suhareka. A fascinating insight into the history of the region, the building also features a clock tower built towards the end of the 19th century with Baroque elements by Eshref Pasha. The tower used to have a chiming clock which was removed in 1912. The view from the city and surrounding mountains from the observation post (babafinga) at the top is well worth the struggle to get up there.
Our Lady of Ljevis, Shën Premtja
The cathedral was badly damaged during the riots of March 2004, but has largely been repaired since. As of April 2010 however it was not open to the public (there's a sign on the gate to contact the Prizren Police office for entry). There is usually a police officer guarding the cathedral. If you show him your passport, you will get access. Occasionally an Orthodox monk is present who will happily tell you the history of the church. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
It was built in 1513 and is the oldest in town. The grave of famous Prizren poet, Suzi Celebi is surrounded by a small wall and the year of death is signed on it.
Prizren celebrates its great musical legacy every June/July with the unique Zambaku i Prizrenit (Lily of Prizren) festival, held at the open air Lumbardhi cinema. Although the festival focuses on Albanian-language songs, some editions also have performances by other ethnic groups from Kosovo. At the festival it's not just old material that is performed – each year new artists add songs to Prizren's repertoire.
Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour
Prizren’s main Catholic church from 1870 is a fairly typical Italian-inspired building with three naves and marble-clad columns. The façade is remarkable for the variety of stone used, while the interior frescoes above the door depict the medieval Christian Albanian hero Skanderbeg who unified Albanians and kept the Ottomans at bay, against all odds. The Skanderbeg portrait is the only one presenting him on the frontal position. Depicted beside him is the great Transylvania Ottoman-slayer, János Hunyadi or Iancu de Hunedoara, who did Christianity a great favour by defeating Mehmed II’s army at Belgrade in 1456.
Lumbardhi Cinema was established in 1952 in Prizren, in then the Socialist Yugoslavia. Opened as part of a modern cultural construction in a newly emerged country, it first operated as an indoor cinema. In 1959, the outdoor cinema was also opened for the public. Until the military intervention in 1999, Lumbardhi functioned as a cinema which was governed as a self-managed public institution. ; Following the war in 1999, and due to the financial and logistical difficulties, it couldn’t re-functionalise itself, and was turned into an asset to be liquidated by the privatisation agency. Despite its sad institutional fate in the new post-war situation, the cinema preserved its collective meaning as a site of memory, informal gatherings and festivals. ; The famous documentary film festival of the city, Dokufest, which opened its first edition in 2002 at Lumbardhi, was an important link that connected the new and old generations of cinema lovers. Following an initiative that saved it from demolition in 2007 after the decision of the then-mayor, there was an attempt to privatise it in 2014 but was fiercely opposed by the campaign led by EC Ma Ndryshe, DokuFest and the Network of Cultural Organisations – RrOK, that managed to stop the privatisation process. ; Kino Lumbardhi is closing for renovations in June 2025.