The St. Mary's Church or Virgin Mary's Church () is an
Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism.
Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...
cave church
A cave monastery is a monastery built in caves, with possible outside facilities. The 3rd-century monk St. Antony the Great, known as the founder of monasticism, lived in a cave.
*Albania
** Qafthanë Cave Church, cave church near Urakë
** ...
on the island of
Maligrad
Maligrad ( sq, Maligrad, also ''Qytet i Vogël'' "small city"; mk, Мал Град, ''Mal Grad'' "small city/town") is an island situated deep within the Albanian part of Lake Prespa, with many caves suitable for wildlife and a circular
cliff. ...
, in the
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 ...
n part of
Lake Prespa
The Lake Prespa is located on the tripoint of North Macedonia, Albania, and Greece. It is a system of two lakes separated by an isthmus: the Great Prespa Lake, divided between the three countries, and the Little Prespa Lake, mostly within Greece ...
. It is a
Cultural Monument of Albania
In Albania, a cultural monument ''()'' is a construction or work of cultural, historical and artistic value that is built in a visible space, made in memory of important events or prominent people. Cultural monuments are usually under state protect ...
. The church is dedicated to Saint Mary and was built by Serbian nobleman
Kesar Novak
Novak the Serb (''Srbin Novak'') was a 14th-century Serbian nobleman that held the region of Lake Prespa during the Serbian Empire of Uroš the Weak (r. 1355-1371). He held the title of ''Caesar'', and is hence also known as Kesar Novak.
He had ...
(alb. ''Qesar Novaku''), in 1369.
The church has frescoes and Greek inscriptions dated to 1369. Frescoes exist of the family of Novak, with his
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
wife Kalia.Ivan M. Đorđević, ''Zidno slikarstvo srpske vlastele u doba Nemanjica''. OCL 34957313 sl. 84 i 85