Budakova is a dispersed hill-and-mountain settlement, ranging roughly from 600 to 1,100 metres above sea level. Its territory preserves numerous early traces: house and church foundations, burials, clay water pipes and other archaeological material at localities including Gurët e Lumës, Konaqet, Livadhi i Madh and Fusha.
The settlement is mentioned in a record from 1372 and later in 16th-century Ottoman registers. Kosovo Vilayet yearbooks from 1893, 1896 and 1900 record the name Budakovë. After 1912 many Albanian families were forced to migrate toward Albania and other areas.
During the 1998–99 war Budakova was extensively burned and destroyed. More than 275 houses, the school and the clinic were destroyed, while the mosque built in 1873 was shelled on 8 June 1999. Thirty-five residents of the village were killed, including five KLA fighters. On 26 June 1998 a KLA headquarters was established here, and a military hospital also operated in the settlement.
Source
Source and further reading
Principal source: Prof. Dr. Jusuf Osmani, Settlements of Kosovo 4 — Theranda (Suhareka), Prishtina, 2003.
Source entry: BUDAKOVA
This page presents a selected summary from the published study of the settlement. For complete archival references, family histories, microtoponymy and the full treatment, consult the original volume.