Ardenica Monastery

The Monastery of the Nativity of the Theotokos in Ardenica (Albanian: Manastiri Lindja e Hyjlindëses Mari,; or simply Ardenica Monastery is an Eastern Orthodox monastery, located 18 kilometers south of Lushnjë, Albania, along the national road that links Lushnjë to Fier.Built by Byzantine Emperor, Andronikos II Palaiologos in 1282 after the victory against the Angevins in the siege of Berat, the monastery is famous as the place where, in 1451, was celebrated the marriage of Skanderbeg, the national hero of Albania, with Andronika Arianiti. In 1780 the Monastery started a theological school to prepare clerics in Greek Orthodoxy. It had an important library with 32,000 volumes that got completely burned by a fire in 1932. The Church of Saint Mary within the monastery contains frescos from brothers Kostandin and Athanas Zografi, notably one of saint John Kukuzelis, born in Durrës, Albania.