The Drenica valley — Lugidhrent in Albanian — is the broad agricultural valley in which Skenderaj sits, and it carries enormous significance in Kosovo's modern history. This was the region where the Kosovo Liberation Army established its earliest footholds in the mid-1990s, and where the first major battles of the 1998–99 conflict were fought. The villages of Likošane, Çirez, and Prekaz became internationally known as sites of Serbian security force operations.
Today the valley is rural and quiet, with fields of wheat and maize, small mixed farms, and the occasional Orthodox church standing alongside Albanian-language signage. The contrast between the peaceful landscape and the violent recent past is striking. Driving through the valley on the way to or from the memorial complex gives a sense of the terrain that mattered so much in the conflict — open ground, overlooked by low hills, with poor roads that made movement difficult.