The house of Rekathati family is situated in the historic core of the city of Prizren and it was built in the 19^th century. It stands as an example of oriental–local style of construction influenced by the Austro–Hungarian architecture, which is particularly noticeable on the front façade. Besides the decorations on the exterior, the building is abundant with ethnographic elements in the interior.

A characteristic of this building is that after World War II, it had been divided into two symmetrical parts and, following unknown circumstances, had its owners changed. So, this house is currently inhabited by two different families and functions as the two separate attached houses.

Although inhabited, due to its age and inadequate maintenance, the house of Rekathati family was in a poor state thus downgraded day after day from different factors.

This building has been selected to be intervened in within the Program of Emergency Interventions in 50 cultural heritage sites in Kosovo. Moreover, the building is listed as a monument of architectural heritage and in the inventory of the List of Cultural Heritage under Temporary Protection of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport of the Republic of Kosovo.

Works in this house started on 23/09/2014 and completed on 14/10/2014. During intervention works, reinforcement and fixing of the roof structure was carried out. In addition to the treatment of the damaged part of the roof structure, the planking was set and hydro-isolation applied. As the existing roof covering was in a poor condition and roof tiles were unusable, those were removed and replaced with Mediterranean roof tiles ‘Tondach’, similar to the existing ones. Wooden eave was quite damaged as a result of weather conditions, so this part of the roof has undergone the repairing process as well.

Another stance was the treatment of gutters and drainpipes. Dormer and one of the chimneys were clothed with a galvanized sheet metal.

The damaged parts of the front façade were treated with lime plaster. The façade was painted with red and white colours to relate to the existing colours. Windows on the northern and western façades were also painted in white.

This project is part of the program of emergency interventions carried out in 50 cultural heritage sites in Kosovo. The program is implemented by CHwB Kosovo and it is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of Kosovo and CHwB through the funds of Swedish state. For more information about this program, click here.