Ardenica Monastery – cultural heritage

At one of the more strategic and dominant points of Greater Myzeqe, 270 meters above sea level stands the Monetary of Ardenica. The sacred location at which the marriage of Gjergj Kastriot Skenderbeg was sanctified is now not only one of the biggest monuments of our national culture, but also amongst one of the objects of special importance of a religious character in Albania. This strategic point lies between the Rivers Seman to the south and Shkumbini to the North. The Monastery dedicated to Mary, the Mother of Christ is positioned at the highest point of the hill summit of Ardenica. This Monastery of Ardeinca, with its features of a Medieval Monastery is thought to have been built in 1280. Its founders are the Emperors Andronik the Second and Mihali the Third, Father and Son. Up until 1967 this Monastery had continued to function as a real monastery, then after this year it was taken under the protection of the Institute of Monuments of Culture. In the time when religions were practiced once again after 1990, the Monastery and everything that belonged to it were retuned and re-instated at the Autocephaly Orthodox Church, which administers it to this day. In the fortified structure of this Monastery there are irreplaceable historical values. It was here that the first document on the Albanian language was discovered written in Byzantine Greek. The great masters of Albanian iconography have worked at this Monastery to help this work of art complete its mission; Konstantin Shpataraku and Konstandin and Athanas Zografi. In 1932 this monastery was burnt down and the traces of that fire can be seen to this day, a library with thirty two thousand volumes were destroyed. Vere rare objects of art are in this monastery; there is a medieval grounding mill for the olives and excellent olive oil was produced. The generosity and hospitality of the farmer from Myzeqe is obvious in the way the monastery is furnished and ornamented. The former Bishop of Apolonia Irene Banushi is a distinguished figure of the Autocephaly Orthodox Church made a huge contribution to this Monastery in 1967 when its existence came under threat by the communist youth movements of the time to destroy it. He physically lived in it for a long time and became one of its main defenders.