Ardenica Monastery

Ardenica stands on a low hill above the flat Myzeqe plain between Fier and Lushnje, founded in the thirteenth century and rebuilt several times, and the buildings that survive are largely of the eighteenth century: a walled enclosure with monastic ranges around a courtyard and the church of the Nativity of the Virgin at its centre, whose interior is covered with wall paintings by the Zografi brothers of Korce, done in 1744, along with a carved and gilded iconostasis. Tradition holds that Skanderbeg was married here in 1451. Part of the complex operates as a hotel. The hilltop position gives a view over the plain to the Adriatic, and the site is quiet and easy to reach from the main road.

History

A temple of Artemis is thought to have stood here, perhaps giving Ardenica its name, before an older chapel of the Holy Trinity, and scholars say the Byzantine emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos began the monastery in 1282 after defeating the Angevins at the siege of Berat, about a kilometre from the Roman Via Egnatia. On 21 April 1451 Skanderbeg married Andronika Arianiti here, before the Albanian princes of the League of Lezhë and envoys of Naples, Venice and Ragusa, an account first recorded by A. Lorenzoni in 1940. In 1731 the monk Nektarios Terpos of Moscopole wrote a prayer here in Latin, Greek, Aromanian and Albanian, the first Albanian text in a Byzantine-era church and the oldest known text in Aromanian; Archbishop Methodius of Berat had the monastery renovated in 1743, when the Zografi brothers painted it, a theological school opened in 1780, and its library of 32,000 volumes was lost to a fire in 1932 (Wikipedia, Ardenica Monastery).

The main sights

• Zografi brothers wall paintings - the 1744 scheme covering the church.
• A carved gilded iconostasis - the screen in the church interior.
• The walled monastic courtyard - eighteenth-century ranges around the church.
• The Myzeqe plain view - flat country to the Adriatic from the hill.

When to go

April to October. One to two hours. The church is generally open during the day; services close it. It is quiet at most times. Combine with Apollonia, which is a short drive south.

Practical notes

The church interior is dim and photography may be restricted. Part of the complex is a working hotel, which affects the atmosphere. Interpretation is minimal. The Skanderbeg marriage tradition is a tradition.

Nearby

Apollonia is south; Fier lies south along the road.

Key facts