Mesopotam

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Village and Bistrica

Mesopotam ( Albanian  also  Mesopotami ) is a village in the municipality of Finiq in southern Albania . The small town is five kilometers south of Delvina near the road from Gjirokastra to Saranda on the Bistrica river and only about a dozen kilometers from the coast of the Ionian Sea .

Geography and inhabitants

Until 2015 Mesopotam was an independent municipality within the dissolved Delvina district . In addition to the administrative center of Mesopotam, the villages of Bistrica, Velahova, Brajlar, Sirkat and Livina belonged to the 110 square kilometer municipality. This had 2786 inhabitants (2011 census). The local authorities, however, assumed around 5,200 inhabitants.

Many of the majority Orthodox residents of Mesopotam belong to the Greek-speaking minority of Albania. Only agriculture offers the local residents some jobs. That is why emigration has been high for more than a decade. Many people from Mesopotam also work legally or illegally as seasonal workers in nearby Greece.

The name of the place is of Greek origin and means between the rivers . This alludes to the former monastery of St. Nicholas , which lay on a hill between two arms of the Bistrica.

history

The area of ​​Mesopotam was already settled in ancient times and belonged to the area of ​​the city of Phoinike . Part of an aqueduct from the time of Emperor Justinian is still visible . From Mesopotam the water of the Bistrica was directed to Phoinike.

In the 13th century, when a large monastery church was built just outside the village, the area was under Angevin rule. In the 14th century the local noble families Zenebishi and Shpata fought for ownership of the place. Around 1415 the Ottomans established their rule over the south of Albania. In contrast to the nearby Delvina, which was soon Islamized, the majority of Orthodox Christians remained in Mesopotam .

St. Nicholas Church

South side of the St. Nicholas Church

The St. Nikolaus (Albanian: Shën Kollë ) is the largest Byzantine church in the country with dimensions of eleven by 19 meters . Some historians assume that there was a Christian church in its place as early as the early Middle Ages. Today only the church, the remains of the surrounding walls of the monastery complex and a defense tower remain of the monastery. The structure of the church and walls are dated to the 13th century. Stones from ancient buildings were reused in the construction of the church. The architectural decorations - including reliefs with plants, animals and mythical creatures - point to southern Italian influence that actually existed in the area at the time.

The building originally had a different appearance: the church had two apses of the same size and a vestibule that surrounded it on three sides. In 1793 and 1845 the building was damaged by earthquakes. After the first quake, new supports had to be built inside and on the south wall. The east wall was rebuilt with a single apse. The frescoes still visible today date from this period. After the second quake, large parts of the north wall had to be renewed.

Web links

Commons : Mesopotam  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ines Nurja: Censusi i popullsisë dhe banesave / Population and Housing Census - Vlorë 2011 . Results Kryesore / Main Results. Ed .: INSTAT . Pjesa / Part 1. Adel Print, Tirana 2013 ( instat.gov.al [PDF; accessed April 14, 2019]).
  2. ↑ Komuna Mesopotam. (No longer available online.) In: Këshilli i Qarkut Vlorë. Archived from the original on November 5, 2013 ; Retrieved July 25, 2011 (Albanian). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.qarkuvlore.gov.al
  3. ↑ a b c d Guntram Koch (ed.): Albania - cultural monuments of an unknown country from 2200 years . Photo exhibition of the seminar for Christian archeology and Byzantine art history at the Philipps University of Marburg. Marburg 1985, p. 42-47 .

Coordinates: 39 ° 55 '  N , 20 ° 6'  E