St. Athanasius Church, Moscopole

{{Other uses|St. Athanasius' Church (disambiguation)}}

{{Infobox historic site

|name=St. Athanasius Church, Moscopole

|native_name=Kisha e Shën Thanasit

|native_language=sq

|native_name2=Biserica Sãmtu Athanas

|native_language2=rup

|image=Voskopoje St Athanasius2.JPG

|caption=

|designation1=Cultural Monument of Albania

|designation1_date=

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|designation2=

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|location=Moscopole

|built=

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|coordinates = {{coord|40.63806|20.58985|display=inline,title}}

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}}

The St. Athanasius Church ({{langx|sq|Kisha e Shën Thanasit}}; {{langx|rup|Biserica Sãmtu Athanas}}), is an Orthodox church in Moscopole, Albania.

History and description

The church was erected in 1721.Tassos A. Mikropoulos. [https://books.google.com/books?id=optXTg3ovBYC&pg=PA315 Elevating and Safeguarding Culture Using Tools of the Information Society], p. 315 The church now serves as a cemetery church in Moscopole.{{cite journal | last = Kirchhainer | first = Karin | year = 2003 | title = Iconographic Characteristics of the Churches in Moschopolis and Vithikuqi (Albania) | journal = Makedonika | volume = 35 | issue = 4 | pages = 163–191 | url = http://media.ems.gr/ekdoseis/makedonika/makedonika_35/ekd_pemk_35_Russeva.pdf | access-date = 2010-11-07}} It is a basilica-type church, with a central nave and two lateral aisles, 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 is 18.90m long dhe 2.85m large, surrounded by 6 arches, which stand on 5 columns, each covered by a double capitals.{{cite web|title=Map - IMK WebGIS|url=http://imk.gov.al/Pages/Default.aspx|website=imk.gov.al|publisher=IMK|access-date=October 13, 2016|ref=imk-map}}

On the exterior frescoes of the church is featured a notably old Aromanian-language writing, discovered in 2005. The inscription is the following, written in the Greek alphabet: {{lang|rup|ΜΑΝΕ ΝΤΙ ΜΖΟΥ ΚΟΥ ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΣ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΥ}}, in modern Aromanian spelling {{lang|rup|Mane di mzou ku Athanasis Filipu}}, possibly meaning "By the hand of God with Athanasis Filipu" though the interpretation of {{lang|rup|mzou}} is uncertain.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JlF4DwAAQBAJ|title=Romanische Kleinsprachen heute: Romanistisches Kolloquium XXVII|editor-first1=Wolfgang|editor-last1=Dahmen|editor-first2=Günter|editor-last2=Holtus|editor-first3=Johannes|editor-last3=Kramer|editor-first4=Michael|editor-last4=Metzeltin|editor-first5=Wolfgang|editor-last5=Schweickard|editor-link5=Wolfgang Schweickard|editor-first6=Otto|editor-last6=Winkelmann|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/34294813|chapter=Geschichte der Kodifizierung des Aromunischen|first1=Thede|last1=Kahl|author-link1=Thede Kahl|first2=Elton|last2=Prifti|publisher=Narr Francke Attempto Verlag|series=Tübinger Beiträge zur Linguistik|volume=546|page=42|year=2016|language=de|isbn=978-3-8233-7881-5}}

The church was declared a Cultural Monument of Albania.{{cite web|url=http://kshk.gov.al/index.php?fq=brenda&gj=gj2&kid=19|title=Religious buildings with the "Culture Monument" status|publisher=Republic of Albania National Committee for Cult|access-date=October 28, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706071224/http://kshk.gov.al/index.php?fq=brenda&gj=gj2&kid=19|archive-date=July 6, 2011}} Despite this, its icons have been stolen 5 times from 1990 to 2010. The last theft removed icons painted in 1724.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRo6w__ruic|title=Voskopojë, vidhet kisha|last=Albanian Television News|website=YouTube |access-date=7 November 2010}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead Youtube links|date=February 2022}}

File:Voskopoje St Athanasius.JPG of St. Athanasius Church]]

References

{{Reflist}}

{{Moscopole}}

{{Religious Cultural Monuments in Korçë County}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:St. Athanasius Church, Moscopole}}

Category:Cultural Monuments of Albania

Category:Eastern Orthodox church buildings in Albania

Category:Churches in Moscopole