Report on The Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos at Përmet’s Old Bazaar

The Albanian Orthodox Church
19/6/2011

By
Dr. Kostantinos Giakoumis, Byzantinist
B.A. Athens University
h.D. C.B.O.M.G.S., University of Birmingham, UK.
Mr. Joan Stratoberdha, Architect
B.A. Tirana

The purpose of this report is, after evaluation of the church of the Nativity of the Theotokos at Përmet’s Old Bazaar, to show its unique historical and architectural values. The church was built in an unknown period, circa 1600 according to local traditions. It was painted in 1814 by Paskal Trandafilli and between 1816 and 1827 was extended through the patronage of a certain Janaq Prevezhani. As an inseparable and indispensable part of Përmet’s Old Bazaar, the church followed the development of the first. As a result it was rebuilt from foundation in 1929 and modified after 1941, when it suffered damages from the Italian bombardment of the city. In 1967, during the communist regime the church was converted into a Cultural Palace. In 2001 it returned to Orthodox worship, but was recently (2003) re-confiscated by state’s local authorities to re-function as a ‘cultural centre’, since the monument’s values were not evaluated properly, the church being considered as unimportant.

From an architectural point of view, the 1967 transformation of the church resulted in a few secondary interventions to its structure. The eastern part of the church was extended at height, while a gallery was added attached to the southern wall of the church. Finally, the walls of the church were reinforced with concrete, some of the church’s windows and entrances were closed and others were opened, while the interior and exterior of the church was modified for the needs of the cultural palace. However, it is obvious that underneath the palace there is a church of remarkable value, not only for its history, but also for its architecture. It portrays the tendency of Përmet’s inhabitants, following the Independence (1912) and by way of reaction against restrictions of the Ottoman legislation concerning Church building, to construct a magnificent church imitating early-Christian models. This architectural choice could be traced in major cities throughout the Balkans, it is quite rare, though, in Albania, as monuments of this period were not considered as monuments of culture and more often than not were destroyed by the Communist regime.

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