The Monastery of the Nativity of the Theotokos stands in Ardenica, 11 miles (18 kilometers) south of Lushnjë in Albania. Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos founded it in 1282, after the victory over the Angevins at the siege of Berat. The style is Byzantine-Orthodox with many Romanesque features, and the complex covers about 26,900 square feet (2,500 square meters). It includes Saint Mary Church, the Holy Trinity chapel, a mill and a barn.
In 1451, George Kastrioti (Skanderbeg) married Andronika Arianiti here. Kostandin and Athanas Zografi painted the frescoes of Saint Mary Church around 1744, and the gilded iconostasis was completed in 1744. A theological school founded in 1780 lost its library of 32,000 volumes to fire in 1932.
It was saved from demolition in 1967, closed in 1969 and returned to the Church in 1992. It is now an operating monastery open to visitors.
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