St. Michael's Church, Moscopole

St. Michael's Church (Albanian: Kisha e Shën Mëhillit or Kisha Kryeengjëjt Mihail dhe Gavriil,[1] Greek: Ιερός Ναός Αρχαγγέλων Μιχαήλ και Γαβριήλ or Ιερός Ναός Ταξιαρχών),[2] also known as Church of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel[3] is an Orthodox church in Moscopole, modern southeastern Albania.

St. Michael's Church
Native names
Albanian: Kisha e Shën Mëhillit
Greek: Ιερός Ναός Ταξιαρχών
LocationMoscopole
Coordinates40.62904°N 20.58724°E / 40.62904; 20.58724
Cultural Monument of Albania

History

The church was erected in 1722 and is one out of five remaining churches in the once prosperous Aromanian metropolis of Moscopole.[4]

During the prohibition of religion in Albania, in 1948, it was turned to a cultural monument of the state.[5] In 1996 the church became a target of vandalism by Muslim fanatics with 23 paintings of Saints being heavily damaged.[6]

Architecture

It is a basilica-type church with a main nave and two lateral aisles. The dimensions are 33m x 15m x 9m. There are two main pillars. Two lines of columns divide the central nave from the two lateral aisles and all three aisles have the same height as the naos. The columns are connected among one another on both directions. Each one of the three aisles has a cupola, and each one of the three cupolas is different. On the eastern side the apse is outside of the cupola and some pillars cover it. The narthex is on the western side, and its construction is similar to the remaining part of the naos. The narthex has stone columns with arches and cupolas. The cloister is absent as it has been destroyed, but there are still signs of the original one.[7]

References
  1. Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania (in Albanian)
  2. Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania (in Greek)
  3. Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania (in English)
  4. Mikropoulos, Tassos A. (2008). Elevating and Safeguarding Culture Using Tools of the Information Society: Dusty traces of the Muslim culture. Earthlab. p. 316. ISBN 978-960-233-187-3.
  5. "Religious buildings with the "Culture Monument" status". Republic of Albania National Committee for Cult. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved October 28, 2010.
  6. Robert Elsie. Peyfuß, Max Demeter: Die Druckerei von Moschopolis, 1731-1769. Buchdruck, p. 1
  7. "Map - IMK WebGIS". imk.gov.al. IMK. Retrieved October 13, 2016.


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