Skanderbeg Square, Pristina

Skanderbeg Square
Sheshi Skënderbeu
Skanderbeg Square ; Sheshi Skënderbeu
Public square
	Skanderbeg's statue in the square
Owner	Pristina Municipality
Location	Pristina, Pristina Municipality
	Skanderbeg Square ; Sheshi Skënderbeu
	Coordinates: 42°39′49″N 21°09′50″E / 42.6636°N 21.1638°E

Skanderbeg Square (Albanian: Sheshi "Skënderbeu") is a square in Pristina, Kosovo.

Location and history

Following the end of the Kosovo conflict in 1999 and no longer under Serbian rule, Kosovo Albanians in 2001 erected a monument within the centre of Pristina to Skanderbeg, a medieval Albanian who fought against Ottoman forces.^[1]^[2] Over a journey of four days the statue was brought from Krujë in Albania to the middle of Pristina.^[3] The Skanderbeg statue of Pristina shares a similar socialist aesthetic and equestrian posture with minor differences in detail to existing Skanderbeg monuments in Tiranë, Skopje and other places in Europe.^[3] Skanderbeg is depicted on a horse with its right leg up in a menacing pose and his sword is outside of its sheath and pointed toward the ground.^[3]^[4]^[2] A war memorial dedicated to the victims of the Kosovo war is present in Skanderbeg square along with a series of photographs depicting the missing from the conflict.^[5] Skanderbeg Square is bordered on one side by Rugova Square, a space named after the first Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova and on the other side by Mother Teresa Boulevard, named after Saint Teresa of Calcutta.^[2] Along with Tiranë and Skopje, Pristina is one of three Balkan capitals to install a Skanderbeg statue.^[6]