“Saint Mary’s Church and Monastery are rare objects of cultural heritage. They should be protected by UNESCO,” said historians Ilirjan Gjika and Admir Xhelaj. The file was submitted several years ago, but has not yet been reviewed.
Saint Mary’s Church, which is located in the courtyard of the Apollonia Monastery, is the only one in Albania that combines Byzantine and Roman art.

“Archaeologists have discovered Paleo-Christian mosaics from the 4th century. The church also has a chapel with Byzantine inscriptions, which are thought to have belonged to one of the Joans. It is a rare church where two architectural styles have been fused, the Orthodox-Byzantine of the East and the Roman-Catholic of the West,” said Ilirjan Gjika, head of the Fier historical museum.

The portico of the church of St. Mary with its beautiful colonnade of eight pillars is similar to that of the abbey of Santa Maria in Puglia.

“It is a Byzantine church, but there is also influence from South Italy, from Puglia, this makes it unique because we don’t often have such churches, which are typical for this area of ​​Italy”, said Admir Xhelaj, head of the “Apolonia” archaeological museum.

Historians Xhelaj and Gjika said that the monastery and the church of Saint Mary should be protected by UNESCO. The file has been submitted for several years but it is pending!

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