Monastery Ardenice, Albania Europe

Scholars claim that the Byzantine Emperor, Andronikos II Palaiologos started building the monastery in 1282 after the victory against the Angevins in the Siege of Berat. The chapel of Saint Trinity was already there, erected centuries before. A pagan temple, dedicated to Artemis had existed on the site before the chapel, and it is thought that the name of Ardenica stems from Artemis. The monastery site lies approximately 1 km from the Via Egnatia (a major 2nd century Roman road). On April 21, 1451 in this monastery was celebrated the marriage of George Kastrioti with Andronika Arianiti. The archbishop of Kanina, Felix said the mess in the wedding in the presence of all the Albanian princes, members of the League of Lezhë and the ambassadors of the Kingdom of Naples, Republic of Venice, and Republic of Ragusa. In 1743 me with the initiative of the Berat's archbishop, Methodius, who was originary of Bubullimë, Lushnjë District, western Albania, then Ottoman Empire, the monastery was renovated: the paitings from this period of the Zografi brothers pertain to this time. Since 1780, in the Monastery existed a Greek school to prepare clerics. In 1817, the school became a high school, which had also a student house. From this school graduated the Bishop of Berat, Josif. During the Albanian National Awakening period the school became one of the places where also the Albanian Language was taught. An important cleric of the monastery was Father Mark, who was the priest to find the bones of Saint Cosmas of Aetolia, thrown in the Seman by the Turkish chevaliers. The monastery had an exceptional library of 32,000 volumes that got completely burned by a fire in 1932. The monastery has a Byzantine-orthodox architecture, which lays in a surface of 2.500 meters square. It is composed of the Saint Mary Church, the chapel of the Saint Trinity, a mill, and a barn.