The Balkan Chronicle

Top Islamic artworks on display at Paris show

The Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris is playing host to an exhibition of Islamic artworks created by 10 top Iranian and Arab artists selected for the Jameel Prize 2011.

Awarded every two years, the Jameel Prize is an international art award for contemporary artists and designers inspired by Islamic traditions of crafts and designs initiated by the Victoria & Albert Museum in Britain.

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Bulgarian Moussaka

Moussaka is one of the most loved Bulgarian dishes. There are similar versions of this dish in most of the Balkan countries, but generally ingredients vary largely. Traditionally Bulgarian Moussaka is a mix of cubbed potatoes and flavoured ground or minced meat. The meat usually consists of three parts beef and two parts goat, but many other combinations are possible depending on your taste. The whole thing is topped with milk and egg sauce and is served warm. Moussaka is eaten as main course.

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A Nuclear Bunker Comes In From the Cold as an Art Gallery

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina — The Yugoslav Army would have been hard pressed to find a more scenic spot to build a nuclear bunker.

Begun in the 1950s and completed in the late 1970s, the bunker is built into the green and lush hillside overlooking the tumbling Nevetra River, an hour from Sarajevo, near Konjic, in central Herzegovina, where it's surrounded by conifer peaks and valleys. Costing more than $4.6 billion, it was intended as a shelter for President Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia and 350 elites of the armyin case of a nuclear attack.

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Milk As A Cure For Disease

This is a very informative video on raw milk in the form of an interview with Mark Mcafee, owner of organic Pastures dairy in California. There is a lot to be learned from it about nutrition, immunity etc., alongside the issue of fresh, natural, raw milk.

By the way did you know that there are many ahaadeeth in the Sunnah establishing the curative and healing properties of fresh, pure milk? The Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) has explicitly stated that milk and clarified butter (samn), otherwise known as ghee, are both a cure (shifaa) and a treatment (dawaa) for disease.

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Against Simplification

It is said that Americans have a genius for simplification. Gradually, however, the quest for it has become a global trend, one that continues to conquer new territories, just as blue jeans once did.

The speed of our daily life is visibly increased – and not for the better – by this unstoppable evolution. The tyranny of pragmatism seems to mark all of the complex dilemmas of our time. Too many valid choices are ignored or skirted through the routine of short-cuts.

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Skopje, Macedonia: Kitsch capital of the Balkans

Winston Churchill is flashing his trademark victory sign from the rooftop of Macedonia's shining white new foreign ministry building.

Alexander the Great is pointing his mighty sword from the top of a mega water fountain that airs classical music on the hour, as sprinkling water dances to the sound of its tunes.

Alexander's father, Philip II, is standing firmly on a tall marble pedestal, his fist lifted toward the sky, surrounded by drab communist-style apartment blocks and garbage littering the streets of Macedonia's capital.

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Ebru: The Art of Paper Marbling

The word ebru (cloud, cloudy) or abru (water face) means in Turkish the technique of paper marbling. The term is derived from the word ebre which belongs to one of the older Central Asian languages and it means the "moiré, veined fabric, paper" used for covering some manuscripts and other holy books. Its origin might ultimately hark back to China, where a document from the T'ang dynasty (618-907) mentions a process of colouring paper on water with five hues. Through the Silk Road, this art came first to Iran and picked up the name Ebru. Subsequently it moved towards Anatolia. Specimens of marbled paper in Turkish museums and private collections date back as far as the 15th century, but unfortunately there is no evidence to show at what date the art of marbling paper first appeared in Anatolia.

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The new Muslim cemetery in the city of Vorarlberg in Austria opened yesterday

The Muslim community of the city of Vorarlberg in Austria yesterday successfully opened the first Muslim cemetery for that region.

The cemetery opened on June 2, 2012, nine years since the first idea for the project. It is located in the municipality of Altach, along the road L190 between Hohenems and Götzis. The cemetery will serve all Islamic communities from different towns and cities of Vorarlberg, providing for burials to be done according to Islamic rites. The facility can accommodate approx. 700 graves, and encompasses a room for the ritual washing, as well as a small prayer space.

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Arben Zharku invited at the European Film Awards

Arben Zharku actor and producer has been invited by the European Film Academy to become a voting member for the European Film Festival Awards.
With acceptance of Zharku, automatically, Kosova becomes member country in this academy, which gathers over 2400 professional members.

"It's a distinct honor to be a member of the academy, we believe that membership in the academy will promote film and film industry in Kosova", reads the communiqué of Skena UP festival, where Arben Zharku is director.

Modernist Islamic Architecture: Toward preserving a migrant past

MakeSpace Architects is a London-based firm whose work specializes in private and social housing, as well as community buildings. Much of the community work focuses on the development of mosques and Islamic centers. Besides designing and building the structures, MakeSpace aspire to develop a new architectural language based on what indigenous, British Islamic architecture, in their eyes, should be.

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