The death of Tito and the gradual breakup of the former Yugoslavia led to increased inter-ethnic tensions throughout the 1980s. In 1989, Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević imposed direct rule over Kosovo from Belgrade and instigated a policy of cultural oppression against the ethnic Albanian population, suppression of the Albanian language and appropriation of cultural heritage assets, museum collections and archives to Belgrade.

In response Kosovo declared independence, however few countries recognised the state and Kosovo’s status was not resolved in the Dayton Agreement that ended the Bosnian War in November 1995.

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By 1996 the Kosovo Liberation Army began armed conflict in a campaign against the Yugoslav Army and Serbian paramilitary police resulting in the Kosovo war. By the time the Serbians left Kosovo following the NATO intervention, over a million people had been displaced, at least 10,000 civilians had been killed.

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The past thirty years, first of violence and dislocation, but also abounding creative production, followed by state-building and international interventions, have left lasting marks on Kosovo’s cultural heritage. Many of Kosovo’s unique architectural heritage was damaged or destroyed during the conflict with the loss of the associated cultural practices and intangible heritage. Currently there are almost two thousand heritage sites under temporary protection in Kosovo and only twenty-three under permanent protection.