Deçan, or Dečani sr-cyr, Дечани ; also in use Dečane sr-cyr, Дечане is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

and municipality in

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a international recognition of Kosovo, partiall ...

. According to the 2011 census, the town of has 3,803 inhabitants, while the municipality has 40,019 inhabitants.

Geography

Geographically, Deçan is located in the

Accursed Mountains The Accursed Mountains ( sq, Bjeshkët e Nemuna; sh-Cyrl-Latn, Проклетије, Prokletije, ; both translated as "Cursed Mountains"), also known as the Albanian Alps ( sq, Alpet Shqiptare), are a mountain group in the western part of the ...

mountain region. It is surrounded by the

Beleg Mountain Beleg ( sq, Maja Beleg or ''Beleg''; Montenegrin and Serbian: Белег, ''Beleg'') is a mountain reaching a height of located on the tripoint of Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro. It is the second highest peak of the Mokra Gora mountain in the P ...

History

Deçan was first recorded in 1330 in the decrees known as the

Dečani chrysobulls The Dečani chrysobulls ( sr, Дечанске хрисовуље/Dečanske hrisovulje) alternatively known as the Dečani charters (Дечанске повеље/Dečanske povelje) are chrysobulls dating to 1321-1331 which contains a detailed lis ...

as being a village with a population of 89 households, consisting of 623 people. The village was one of many feudal holdings of the Visoki Dečani monastery. As part of their feudal obligations, the local population of Deçan provided labour and payment in products to the Visoki Dečani monastery. The chrysobulls listed that

Visoki Dečani The Visoki Dečani Monastery ( sr, Манастир Високи Дечани, Manastir Visoki Dečani, sq, Manastiri i Deçanit) is a medieval Serbian Orthodox Christian monastery located near Deçan, Kosovo. It was founded in the first half of ...

held such rights over 2,097 households of

meropsi The ''sebri'' ( sr-cyr, себри) was the lower-half social class, commoners, of the medieval Serbian state. The status of the groups comprising the class was regulated in medieval code of laws, such as ''Dušan's Code'' (1349). It included severa ...

(dependent farmers-serfs), 266

Vlach "Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Easter ...

households (pastoral communities) and 69 ''sokalniki'' (craftsmen) over a large area in southern Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro and north Albania. In the charters of Deçan, there were several cases where a father had an Albanian name and his son would have a Serbian name. This has been interpreted as highlighting the process of slavicization in the region. Following the migration of the Serbs in the 17th and 18th century, many ethnic Serbs who lived in Deçan left. The local Albanian population of Deçan who remained continued to guard the local Visoki Dečani monastery. During the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...

, Deçan was one of the strongholds of the

Kosovo Liberation Army The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA; , UÇK) was an ethnic Albanian separatist militia that sought the separation of Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, ...

(KLA). The KLA regularly smuggled weapons from

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and share ...

across the border to Deçan and as a result, the area saw significant fighting between the KLA and Yugoslav army and police. The town was one of the areas where armed attacks against Serbian police and military began. On August 1995 in one of the most serious incidents before the Kosovo War, the Serbian police stations was attacked and set on fire by an armed group.

Culture

The medieval

Serbian Orthodox The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous ( ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. The majority of the population ...

Visoki Dečani monastery stands around 2 km to the west of the town.

Notes

Sources

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References

External links

Municipality of Deçan
fficial Website {{DEFAULTSORT:Decan

Deçan Deçan, or Dečani sr-cyr, Дечани ; also in use Dečane sr-cyr, Дечане is a town and municipality in Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the town of has 3,803 inhabitants, while the municipality has 40,019 inhabitants. Geog ...