As the capital city of Kosovo, Pristina is the heart of the cultural and artistic development of all Albanians that live in Kosovo. The department of cultural affairs is just one of the segments that arranges the cultural events, which make Pristina one of the cities with the most emphasized cultural and artistic traditions.

The Goddess on the Throne (Albanian: Mbretëresha e Dardanisë or Hyjnesha ne Fron) has been adopted as the symbol of Pristina. It is the most precious archaeological artifacts of Kosovo that has been founded during some excavations in 1955 in the region of Ulpiana, a suburb of Pristina.'Tjerrtorja' Archaeological Site (listed since 1955). Retrieved 1 March 2014 Retrieved 2 March 2014. It dates back to 3500 BC in the Neolithic period and is made of clay.Idhulli i Dardanisë apo Hyjnesha në fron Dardanian idol or Goddess on the Throne. Retrieved 22 February 2014. Pristina also has its municipal archive which was established in the 1950s and holds all the records of the city, municipality and the region.

Department of Culture Affairs

The Department of Culture, Youth and Sports is one of the 11 departments of the municipality of Pristina. It deals with culture, youth and sports activities. Yll Rugova is the head of the department after the local elections in 2017.

Some of the responsibilities of the Department are:

Management of local cultural resources, including local museums and cultural heritage resources, Management of Municipal Archives, "Dodona" Theater, City Library, City Stadium, Sports Hall and other associated facilities, Organizing debates about the development and advancement of culture, youth and sport and Supporting cultural, youth and sports activities, as well as the renovation of their development within its territory.Departamneti i Kultures, Rinise dhe Sportit. Department of Culture, Youth and Sports. Retrieved 1 March 2014.

Literature

As the center of art, Pristina is also the center of literature in Kosovo. As a university city, it has thousands of students and visitors of libraries and publishers of the city. Some of them publishers in Pristina include Dukagjini, Libri Shkollor, Dija, Koha, Toena, Albas, Rilindja and others.Katedralja e Ibrahimit (Abrahamit) dhe Xhamia e Isasë (Jezusit) Abraham (Ibrahim) Cathedral and Jezus (Isa) Mosque. Retrieved 22 February 2012.

National Library of Kosovo

The National Library of Kosovo was established in 1944. It is the highest institution of its kind in Kosovo. With a fund of thousands of books, it is one of the biggest libraries in the region. Every year more than 40000 exemplars are added to the library archive.Biblioletar Numër 2, 65-vjet të Bibliotekës Kombëtare dhe Universitare të Kosovës page.11 Biblioletra Number 2, 65th anniversary of National University Library of Kosovo. Retrieved 23 February 2014.

Included in this library, there are some sub-libraries such as the European Library, the NATO Library, the Library of Contemporary art, the Library of Musical Art and others. Every year the week of library is organized by the library where the work of different writers is presented, many books are published and debates about literature in Kosovo are held.Biblioteka Kombëtare dhe Universitare e Kosovës National University Library of Kosovo. Retrieved 2 March 2014

More than 5000 students of bachelor and master studies are registered at the library, where they are able to find all the literature they need for their studies. It is located in the campus of the University of Pristina, right in front of the National Gallery of Kosovo.Biblioteka Kombëtare e Kosovës "Pjetër Bogdani" National Library of Kosovo "Pjeter Bogdani". Retrieved 24 February 2014.

Hivzi Sulejmani Library

The library was founded 70 years ago and is one of the largest libraries regarding the number of books in its inventory, which is nearly 100,000. All of those books are in service for the library's registered readers.Letërnjoftim i shkurtër për kulturën e kryeqytetit Short notice of capital culture. Retrieved 25 February 2014.

In 1940, the library had of nearly 1300 books. By the Municipality of Pristina, it was officially founded in 1963 with the name Public Library Miladin Popovic, which was then changed to Populist Library Miladin Popovic. From 1993 till 1999 the name Miladin Popovic was removed since it was put by force in the beginning and was named "The City Library". At the end of the war the name was changed to "The Municipality Library – Hivzi Sulejmani". The library has a huge fund of books. In all its branches it has:Informata mbi fondin e librave në bibliotekën "Hivzi Sulejmani". Information of books in the "Hivzi Sulejmani" library Retrieved 26 February 2014. LanguageAlbanian Serbian Turkish OtherTotalNumber of Books1142875806538062399178557

In January 2014, the Embassy of the United States in Pristina donated a fund of 2000 books in the English language to the Municipality of Pristina. The library gets every year donations from book fairs organized in Kosovo and Albania.Biblioteka “Hivzi Sulejmani” pasurohet me libra ne gjuhën angleze "Hivzi Sulejmani" library is enriched with book in English language. Retrieved 28 February 2014. The number of book readers in the library is raising every year. Since 2002, 10000 books are read more than the year before that.Biblioteka "Hivzi Sylejmani". "Hivzi Sulejmani" Library. 23 February 2014. The "Hivzi Sulejmani" library has 6 branches, located in the region of Pristina. In the center of Pristina is the major branch, continuing with other branches in the Youth and Sports Center, "Memorial" Library, "Tales" Library, "Proofreading" Library, and the libraries in the villages near Pristina.

Book fair

Every year, the city organizes the Pristina Book Fair. There have been 15 fairs until 2013 with the 16th opening on 3 June 2014 and stays open for a week until 9 June.Historiku i Panairit. Pristina Book Fair History. Retrieved 27 February 2014. There is a fairly high number of books that are published mainly from Kosovar, Albanian, Macedonian and Montenegrin publishers and some foreign publishers (German, French, English etc.).2013 Panairi i librit në Prishtinë. Pristina Book Fair. Retrieved 26 February 2014.

In 2010, at the 12th annual Book Fair, there were around 100 publishers, mostly Albanian language publishers and there were around 1500 new books being promoted for the first time.Hapet Panairi i Librit në Prishtinë. Pristina Book Fair is opened. Retrieved 1 March 2014. In 2011, there was a lower number of publishers and book presentations. Around 80 publishers were present at the book fair and around 1000 book were promoted for the first time.Panairi i librit në Prishtinë- i suksesshëm. Pristina Book Fair – Successful. Retrieved 1 March 2014. In 2012 saw roughly the same number of publishers but a much higher number of new books promotions, around 1600. An influential factor for the high number of book promotions could have been the 100th Anniversary of the Independence of Albania.Hapet panairi i librit “Prishtina 2012″. "Prishtina 2012" book fair is opened. Retrieved 25 February 2014.

2013 also saw a fairly high number of publishers and book promotions. Around 100 publishers with more than 1300 books being promoted for the first time. Also it was the highest number of visitors with around 30.000 visitors.KOSOVË – MBYLLET PANAIRI I LIBRIT "PRISHTINA 2013", MBI 30 MIJË VIZITORË. The "Prishtina 2013" book fair has ended, over 30 thousand visitors. Retrieved 2 March 2014.

Theater

National Theater of Kosovo

The theater was founded in October 1946 in Prizren. It was the first professional theatrical institution in Kosovo after the Second World War. Few months after the establishment, the theater was moved to Pristina. The first performances of the theater were mostly created by amateur artists and talented and enthusiastic idealists which were aided from professional artists from other theaters of ex-Yugoslavia. In the 1960s the ensemble of the theater was slowly enriched with professional staff.

Until 1989 there were over 400 premiers with over 10000 replays showed in the theater which were followed by over 3.2 million spectators. The repertoire of this theater was built on many national, international and former Yugoslavian dramatic scripts. This theater performances, which were presented in different festivals with national and international character in the former Yugoslavia, were praised highly by critics of the time and were honored with various artistic awards. In 1967, the play "Erveheja" of director Muharrem Qena was honored with the Award for the Best Drama in the Yugoslavian Drama Festival "Sterijino Pozorje". In addition to performances in the Albanian language, there were also performances in the Serbian language, especially after 1981 when the theater was operating under heavy politic pressure from the Yugoslavian communist regime.

In 1990, the rigorous regime of Slobodan Milosevic placed the theater under a violent administration by expelling the Albanian artists from the theater and putting it under a totalitarian control. During this period, in a parallel university education system created against the totalitarian regime, many school-homes were created from the artistic ensemble, which were already part of this professional ensemble theater. After the war in 1999, there have been numerous national and international plays in the theater. The theater is of a national character, as such, it is funded by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of the Kosovo.Teatri Kombëtar i Kosovës, Për Ne. National Theater of Kosovo, For Us. Retrieved 2 March 2014.

Dodona Theater

The Dodona Theater was first known as the Theater of Youth, Kids and Doll, and was founded in 1986 approved from the Municipality of Prishtina. Rabije Bajrami and Ismajl Ymeri have the greatest credits for founding this theater.

First premier of this theater was Pylli është i të gjithëve (English: The forest is everybody's) on May 16, 1987. In 1992, this institution moved to the location where it is now, except plays for children, they started to present plays for older ages. Since 1987 until now, 34 plays for kids have been brought to the scene and over 70 premiers for adults.

In 1994, the Serbian police tried to stop the work of the theater but, the staff of "Dodona" never stopped the work. For the next 7 years until 1999, 400 different plays were brought to the scene. "Dodona" theater, has been awarded numerous national and international awards from the likes of: "European Festival of Doll Theaters" in Pogradec, "Albanian Theaters Festival" in Debar, "Albanian Culture Days" in Paris, "Days of Doll Theaters" in Mistelbach, Austria, etc.Teatri i Qytetit të Prishtinës – “Dodona”. City Theater of Prishtina – "Dodona". Retrieved 28 February 2014.

Oda Theater

The independent ODA Theater was founded at the end of 2002 with an initiative of Lirak Çelaj (Actor) and Florent Mehmeti (Director). On 1 March 2003 it was promoted with his first play Vagina Monologue which is also the day that ODA celebrates its birthday. Many artists and art-lovers have welcomed the opening of this theater and they continuously support it. ODA is the only independent theater in the Republic of Kosovo having its own space. Besides local plays, there have been also international plays from Europe and the US. The theater is part of the contemporary theater network in Europe, "Informal European Theater Meeting (IETM) and as well a member of Balkan Express which is a network of theaters in the region of the Balkans.