St. Nicholas Church () is a church in

Perondi Perondi is a village and former municipality in Berat County, central Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality of Kuçovë. The population in the 2011 census was 9,005. General information The munic ...

Berat County Berat County (; ), officially the County of Berat (), is a Counties of Albania, county in the Southern Albania, Southern Region of the Republic of Albania. It is the ninth largest by area and the List of counties of Albania by population, ninth m ...

, Albania. It became a

Cultural Monument of Albania In Albania, a cultural monument () is a construction or work of cultural, historical and artistic value that is built in a visible space, made in memory of important events or prominent people. Cultural monuments are usually under state protection ...

in 1963.

History and description

Around north of

Berat Berat (; sq-definite, Berati) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, ninth most populous city of Albania and the seat of Berat County and Berat Municipality. By air, it is north of Gjirokastër, west of Korçë, south of Tirana, and ea ...

, St. Nicholas's Church is one of the oldest

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

monuments in Albania. Built in the 11th century, the

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

has three

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

s, a wooden roof, and a

vaulted In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while ring ...

altar. The

narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of Early Christian art and architecture, early Christian and Byzantine architecture, Byzantine basilicas and Church architecture, churches consisting of the entrance or Vestibule (architecture), ve ...

and

belfry The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

date to later, and in 1786 the roof was rebuilt and arches added. Specialists from the Institute of Monuments conducted renovations in 1930 and 1970, but the antiquity of the church is still evident.

References

{{Religious Cultural Monuments in Berat County Cultural Monuments of Albania Buildings and structures in Kuçovë Churches in Berat County