Deçan


Deçan, or Dečani or Dečane, is a town located in Deçan Municipality in the Gjakova District of Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the town of Deçan has 3,803 inhabitants, while the municipality has 40,019 inhabitants. Based on the population estimates from the Kosovo Agency of Statistics in 2016, the municipality has 41,641 inhabitants.
It is a mountainous area which borders Montenegro and Albania. There is a total of 36 villages within the municipality. The municipality covers an area of 371 km2.
During the 1998–1999 war, Deçan was one of the strongholds of the Kosovo Liberation Army and subsequently suffered a large amount of infrastructure destruction by the Serbian police and paramilitary forces. Much reconstruction has taken place with the assistance of the international agencies and support from the Kosovo Albanian diaspora. It is widely known amongst the Serbian population for the Visoki Dečani monastery of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Geography

Deçan lies in the Prokletije mountain region. It is surrounded by the Beleg Mountain.

Culture