Unlike many of Europe's cultural trea-sures, the monastery of Decani-a lovely mix of Romanesque architecture and Byzantine art—faces little risk from changes in the physical environment. In this wooded valley at the foot of a forbidding mountain, there is no ecological challenge comparable to the acid rain that erodes cathedrals in Cologne and Cracow. Yet the 30 Serbian monks who man this 700-year-old redoubt face far more lethal dangers than that. Having suffered several mortar attacks since Kosovo became an international protectorate in 1999, the community's survival hangs by a thread; its sole guarantors are the Italian troops who patrol the unruly region in armoured cars. Take that guard away, and this medieval fortress would almost certainly suffer the fate of the 35 religious buildings that were damaged or wrecked by mobs during the two days of rioting, against Serbs and other non-Albanians, which shook the province last year.
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