And hardly any Serbs live in and around them, unlike the devout of other faiths who settle in their holy lands. The Serb sites in Kosovo, dating back to the Middle Ages, do have historic, symbolic and mythical importance, and have a firm hold on Serb imagination. But they aren't the Temple Mount, the Sistine Chapel or the Ka'aba. That's what critics of the Serb onslaught of Kosovo are told. Sound advice - but not for the reasons it's proffered.
History can be selective.
While Kosovo was the heartland of medieval Serbian kingdoms, it's been part of Serbia for only 75 of the last 500 years. Nor does the fact that the Serbs lost Kosovo to the Ottoman Turks in the oft-cited battle of 1389, and did not recover it until the 1912 Balkan War. Depending on whom you believe, the Serbs were either ill-treated or weren't by the Ottomans who, whatever else their sins, left most of the Serb sacred sites alone. In turn, the Serbs were slaughtered or expelled after 1941 when Kosovo came under Italian-controlled greater Albania. In 1944 Kosovo was annexed into the Yugoslav Communist state, against the wishes of the majority, and placed under martial law.