The St. Athanasius Church ( sq, Kisha e Shën Thanasit), is an Orthodox church in Moscopole,

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

History and description

The church was erected in 1721. The church now serves as a cemetery church in Moscopole. It is a

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

-type church, with a central

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and two lateral

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...

s, and is found in the northeastern side of Moscopole, at the Akamnel neighborhood. The church has two cupolas that stay on two main pillars and eight surrounding columns. The dimensions of the two naves are 19m x 10.50m x 8m, and the length of the cupolas goes up to 9m. The apses are decorated externally by seven arches at the main entrance and four arches ones on each side. The side arches are topped by small windows. The

cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...

is 18.90m long dhe 2.85m large, surrounded by 6 arches, which stand on 5 columns, each covered by a double

capitals Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

. On the exterior

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

es of the church is featured a notably old Aromanian-language writing, discovered in 2005. The inscription is the following, written in the

Greek alphabet The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BCE. It is derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and was the earliest known alphabetic script to have distinct letters for vowels as we ...

: , in modern Aromanian spelling , possibly meaning "By the hand of God with Athanasis Filipu" though the interpretation of is uncertain. The church was declared a Cultural Monument of Albania. Despite this, its icons have been stolen 5 times from 1990 to 2010. The last theft removed icons painted in 1724. Voskopoje St Athanasius

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:St. Athanasius Church, Moscopole Cultural Monuments of Albania Eastern Orthodox church buildings in Albania Churches in Moscopole Churches in Korçë County