Ardenica Monastery

Lushnjë municipality, Albania

Open to visitors

The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.

Strollie cannot guarantee access — always check before you travel.

Ardenica Monastery, located eighteen kilometers south of Lushnjë in Albania, is a Byzantine Orthodox monastery dedicated to the Nativity of the Theotokos. Built in 1282 by Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos following his victory against the Angevins at the siege of Berat, the monastery was constructed of rock in the Byzantine architectural style. The site gained historical prominence in 1451 when the Albanian national hero Skanderbeg married Andronika Arianiti there. In 1780, the monastery established a theological school for the preparation of Orthodox clerics and maintained an important library of 32,000 volumes until its destruction by fire in 1932. The Church of Saint Mary within the monastery complex features frescoes by the Albanian Zografi Brothers, including a notable image of Saint John Kukuzelis, born in Durrës.