St. Lucia Cathedral (Durrës)

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Gate and facade of the church after construction work was completed in summer 2018

The St. Lucia Cathedral ( Albanian  Katedralja e Shën Luçisë ) is a co- cathedral in the Albanian port city of Durrës , which is dedicated to St. Lucia of Syracuse . It was built as the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Durrës . With the opening of Paul Cathedral in Tirana in 2002 and the transfer of the seat of the diocese, it became the Co-Cathedral of today Archdiocese of Tirana-Durres ore mentioned diocese . The church is in a back alley south of the town hall.

Durrës is considered to be one of the oldest bishoprics, still built by the apostle Paul . Saint Caesar, who appears in some lists of the 72 disciples , was mentioned in the year 58. After Durrës was conquered by the Ottomans in 1501, the archbishopric, which was established in the 13th century, remained unoccupied for a long time or the bishops had resided in the Kurbin mountains . It was not until 1850 that the Turks tolerated an archbishop in the city again. The archbishop continued to reside in Delbnisht, a village near Laç , at least in summer ; it was not until 1937 that the residence was definitely moved to Durrës.

There are contradicting statements about the year the church was built. The year 1868 is carved on the gate to the churchyard. Elsewhere, however, the year 1909 is given as the opening year for the church. Engelbert Deusch writes ambiguously that in 1904 there was "no parish church besides the bishop's church in Durazzo", while in the same work an official listing from 1904 lists an "archiepiscopal residence and cathedral in Delbnisht" and a "parish church and rectory in Durrës". For the years 1888–1890 and 1895, however, Austria-Hungary's contributions to the restoration of the Archbishop's Cathedral in Durrës are documented. At least until after the First World War there was a bishop's residence, rectory and accommodation for the Sisters of Mercy of St. Vincent von Paul from Zagreb housed in the same building; a school was also housed in the churchyard.

The cathedral was built as a single-nave hall church with a small apse . In the small town of Durrës, which had 1,000 or slightly more inhabitants, there were only 250 Catholics in 1890; in 1913, around 13,000 Catholics lived in the large diocese, which stretched to northern Greece.

The last bishop who could still work in the cathedral was Vinçenc Kolë Prennushi , who was imprisoned in 1947. After 1967, when all religious practice was banned in Albania , the church was used as a puppet theater. The bishop's palace and the parsonage next door were also converted and the bell tower torn down. Since 1991 the cathedral has been used as a place of worship again and in 1993 the building returned to the church. Due to the size and role of Tirana as the political and cultural center of the country, the seat of the diocese was moved to the capital, but the church retained its status as a co-cathedral. In September 2013, restoration work began on the badly damaged building.

In 2018 the co-cathedral was placed under temporary protection by the regional cultural monuments authority.

Web links

Commons : St. Lucia Cathedral  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Markus WE Peters: Catholic Church Buildings in Albania from the Middle Ages to the Present - Symbolism, History, Backgrounds . In: Walter Raunig (Ed.): Albania. Wealth and diversity of ancient culture . State Museum for Ethnology Munich, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-9807561-2-2 , p. 90-104 .
  2. ↑ Viola Hofer: Seventy disciples. In: Leistungsentag.com. October 14, 2016, archived from the original on January 6, 2017 ; Retrieved January 5, 2017 .
  3. ↑ a b Engelbert Deusch: Das k. (U.) K. Cultural protectorate in the Albanian settlement area in its cultural, political and economic environment (=  To the customer of Southeast Europe . Volume II / 38 ). Böhlau, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-205-78150-9 , pp. 154 .
  4. ^ Tiranë-Durrës (Archdiocese). In: www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved January 5, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Markus WE Peters: History of the Catholic Church in Albania from the Paris Peace Conference in 1919/20 to the pastoral visit of Pope John Paul II in 1993 . Dissertation. Bonn 2001, p. 90 (later published under the title History of the Catholic Church in Albania 1919–1993 (Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2003, ISBN 3-447-04784-4 )).
  6. ^ Karl Otten : The journey through Albania and other prose . Ed .: Ellen Otten, Hermann Ruch. Arche, Zurich 1989, ISBN 3-7160-2085-0 , p. 55, explanations on p. 186 (new edition of the travelogue from 1912 published in 1913).
  7. ↑ a b Klodiana Haxhiaj: Arkitektët prezantojnë një rimodelim të Durrësit të viteve 1920. In: BalkanWeb.com. April 18, 2016, accessed January 5, 2017 (Albanian).
  8. ↑ a b Durrës, the city where the sea bathes Antiquity! (PDF) In: durres.gov.al. Bashkia Durrës, p. 32 , accessed on January 5, 2016 (English, the identical text can also be found on a tourist information board in front of the building).
  9. ↑ Engelbert Deusch: Das k. (U.) K. Cultural protectorate in the Albanian settlement area in its cultural, political and economic environment (=  To the customer of Southeast Europe . Volume II / 38 ). Böhlau, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-205-78150-9 , pp. 205 f .
  10. ↑ Engelbert Deusch: Das k. (U.) K. Cultural protectorate in the Albanian settlement area in its cultural, political and economic environment (=  To the customer of Southeast Europe . Volume II / 38 ). Böhlau, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-205-78150-9 , pp. 178 .
  11. ↑ Engelbert Deusch: Das k. (U.) K. Cultural protectorate in the Albanian settlement area in its cultural, political and economic environment (=  To the customer of Southeast Europe . Volume II / 38 ). Böhlau, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-205-78150-9 , pp. 184 (note 604).
  12. ↑ Engelbert Deusch: Das k. (U.) K. Cultural protectorate in the Albanian settlement area in its cultural, political and economic environment (=  To the customer of Southeast Europe . Volume II / 38 ). Böhlau, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-205-78150-9 , pp. 98 f .
  13. ^ Andreas Gottsmann: Concordat apo protektorat i kultit? Monarkia Austriake dhe aktivitetet diplomatike te Selise se Shenjte ne Evropen Juglindore 1878-1914 . In: Albert Ramaj (ed.): Poeta nascitur, historicus fit - Ad honorem Zef Mirdita . Albanian Institute, Hrvatski institut za povijest, St. Gallen / Zagreb 2013, ISBN 978-3-9524201-0-2 , p. 389 .
  14. ↑ a b Restoration of the Kon-Cathedral in Durres. In: Church in Need - Germany. 2016, accessed January 5, 2017 .
  15. ↑ Katedralja Shën Luçia Durrës. In: Facebook. Retrieved January 5, 2017 (Albanian).
  16. ↑ Aida Dalushi: Rikthehet në identitet Konkatedralja e Shën Luçisë në Durrës. In: Illyria. October 2, 2013, accessed January 5, 2016 (Albanian).
  17. ↑ Adela Alla: Kisha e Shën Luçisë në Durrës, në prag të shpalljes monument kulture. In: ATA. July 1, 2018, accessed July 10, 2018 (Albanian).

Coordinates: 41 ° 18 ′ 43 "  N , 19 ° 26 ′ 50"  E