Modernism in Kosovo is a curatorial and research-based platform dedicated to the documentation, interpretation, and public dissemination of the architectural and urban heritage of the modernist period in Kosovo, with a specific focus on the era between 1945 and 1989. Emerging from the post-war context of socialist Yugoslavia, modernism in Kosovo was tended to be used as a tool of modernization, supra-nationalist identity formation, and sociopolitical transformation.
The platform serves as a dynamic archive and open-access repository of visual materials, architectural drawings, maps, planning documents, photographs, models, and projects that together reflect the ideological, aesthetic, and spatial aspirations of the time. Through this initiative, we seek not only to explore but also to critically engage with the physical and symbolic legacy of this formative period in Kosovo’s built environment.
From the urban expansion to the industrial growth, the infrastructural planning, and civic and cultural interventions in Kosovo’s biggest cities like Prishtina, Prizren, Peja, Mitrovica, Gjakova, Ferizaj, Gjilan and beyond, the platform traces how modernist principles shaped cities, public spaces, and architectural forms throughout the country. It also offers insights into the ways these interventions intersected with broader regional and global discourses on modernism, socialist urbanization, and planning ideologies.
All materials curated by the platform are available either in digitized format or as references to physical archives and printed editions, ensuring access for researchers, students, professionals, and anyone interested in Kosovo’s architectural and spatial history. Through both scholarly commentary and participatory engagement, the platform encourages dialogue around the reinterpretation and the contemporary relevance of the modernist legacy and its importance to collective memory.