Throughout Bosnia, Albania, and Kosovo, one can see numerous mosques, most of them built in the Ottoman style, with large domes and two or more minarets. Some of the mosques in the Balkans are ancient and magnificent—recognized as World Heritage sites—and visiting them is as [...]

Balkan Sufism Sufis are the mystical branch of Islam that emphasizes love, acceptance of others, and tolerance as a way of life. They are organized into orders named after their founders, each with its own unique practice, which often includes music, dance, prayer, meditation, and [...]

About 800 years ago, a man named Haji Bektash (hence the name Bektashi) began an order that emphasized the mystical work of loving God rather than observing the commandments. The Bektashi expressed their love for God through rituals of singing, drinking alcohol (which is considered [...]

Indo-Europeans in the Western Balkans The main evidence for the Indo-European invasions—or rather, the Indo-European migrations—comes from the Bronze Age cemeteries in Bosnia (Belotić, Bela Crkva), where the dead were cremated and the skull was separated from the body. In contrast to the sky or [...]

Illyrian Wars with the Romans Philip of Macedon fought the Illyrians, managed to defeat them, and took control of the Ohrid region; he invaded as far as Kosovo and Shkodra in northern Albania. Consequently, there was increasing contact between the populations, and this led to [...]

The Middle Ages in Albania In the 5th century AD, the Balkans were invaded by the Ostrogoths, Huns, and Alans—tribes of Germanic and Central Asian (often referred to as Mongolic) origin—who brought about the collapse of the existing Romanized culture. In the aftermath of this [...]