13 icons, in the Museum of Korça/ The exhibition "Iconography of the Church of 'The Dormition of Saint Mary' Lubonje" is finalized

2024-11-28 16:59:00, Qyteti im CNA

13 icons, in the Museum of Korça/ The exhibition "Iconography of the

For the first time in Korça, the exhibition of iconographic works was finalized near the Museum of Medieval Art, a wonderful exhibition that highlights the great archaeological heritage of the southeast area. The exhibition was finalized after a long process of identification, study, consolidation and restoration of icons originating from the village of Lubonjë. In the framework of the national holidays, an exhibition named "Iconography of the Church of 'The Dormition of Saint Mary' Lubonje" was conceived and successfully developed, showing for art lovers 13 icons, part of many others collected and found for years that were stored in the premises of the museum.

The director of this museum, Fjoralba Prifti, has shown that during this long process, more than 64 icons originating from the village of Lubonje have been identified, which were restored and presented for the first time in Korça, highlighting the artistic and spiritual values that these works represent.

13 icons, in the Museum of Korça/ The exhibition "Iconography of the

"As part of the project on the village of Lubonja, the National Museum of Medieval Art identified over 64 icons that originate from the village of Lubonja and from the Church of the Dormition of Saint Mary. After they were identified, studied, consolidated, restored, we today we finalize the exhibition with 13 icons selected by them, due to the chronology, the artistic and spiritual values ??which they represent as well as the cultural heritage in itself that are the most dignified works. The icons are presented for the first time, for a period of 1 year, our restoration laboratory staff studied them and brought them to light," said Fjoralba Prifti.

This exhibition came as a collaboration of the Academy of Sciences and the branch of Geology and Mining at the Polytechnic University, with funding from the Ministry of Education, with the sole purpose of presenting the great values ??of the village of Lubonjë. According to archaeologist and professor Neritan Ceka, these icons were collected in 1967 but were unknown and are now on public display after their restoration.

13 icons, in the Museum of Korça/ The exhibition "Iconography of the

"This is part of a program related to the work done by the Academy of Sciences and the Faculty of Geology and Mining from the Polytechnic University, with funding from the Ministry of Education, for the cultural heritage of the village of Lubonje, where the epicenter is the Church of the Dormition of Saint Mary ", a church that according to the tradition of the 11th century with frescoes of the 12th century, among the most beautiful in Albania. Part of this heritage was also a large number of icons that were collected in 1967, were preserved in the Museum of Medieval Art in Korça and it became possible to identify them, restore them and exhibit a small part of this heritage.These are presented for the first time, including some icons of special value to the family of the painter Zografi, but also that they were not known," stated Neritan Ceka.

For the professor of the Polytechnic University of Tirana, Edmond Hoxha, this project has a wider spiritual connection for the sole reason that he himself originates from the village of Lubonjë. Wanting to give support to this village, Hoxha became part of the project with the aim of identifying areas with archaeological potential, where during the project there was a high success because 11 areas with this potential were discovered. According to the professor, the archaeological findings so far belong to the 13th century before Christ and the 7th after Christ, which shows that in the excavations that will be carried out in the future, there may be even more interesting findings than the findings on the surface of the ground.

13 icons, in the Museum of Korça/ The exhibition "Iconography of the

"This project is dedicated to the cultural heritage of the village of Lubonjë. The reason why it is dedicated to this village is a little personal because I myself am from Lubonjë and I wanted to support the village in this difficult situation that it is going through. The purpose of the project was to identify areas with archaeological potential in Lubonja, until now there has been no real scientific study except for some special publications, but from the archaeological side there was no evidence of them 11 areas with archeological potential, starting from the cultural monument, the first category being the Church of Saint Mary, then the castle, the upper town, the current settlement of Lubonje and the industrial area of ??the Rehova mine. The project has found approx 300 archaeological finds in all areas which is a very good result. We have just touched Lubonja and these finds are walking on its ground, because the excavations have not started but the results are very promising. The archaeological data date from the 13th century before Christ to the 7th century after Christ," emphasized Edmond Hoxha.

13 icons, in the Museum of Korça/ The exhibition "Iconography of the

Art lovers and those interested in archeology and history had the opportunity to see up close the icons selected in this exhibition, which show a lot about the values ??of the village of Lubonjë and more particularly of the church "Fjetja e Saint Mary". The completed project was a great success in highlighting the archaeological values ??of this area, while further excavations will be carried out to discover even more objects./ CNA TV