Two churches in Romania that date back hundreds of years have been proposed for inclusion as UNESCO World Heritage sites.
A 13th-century Serbian Orthodox monastery was severely damaged by a major storm that struck Negotin and the surrounding area in eastern Serbia last week.
Just months after the world-famous Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Istanbul was converted back into a mosque in the summer of 2020, Turkey’s President Erdoğan announced the same fate for the nearby Christ the Savior Chora Church.
The monastery dates back to the Middle Byzantine period, around the 10th century. It was completely destroyed and restored several times during both the Venetian and Turkish occupations.
Such a decision is “unreasonable and unacceptable,” though “it accurately reflects the situation of the Serbian Church and people in Kosovo and Metohija,” the Church writes.