Church of Saint Kolli Monastery, Mesopotamia

The Church of Saint Kolli Monastery is located in Mesopotamia, in the south of Albania. The church is a cultural heritage monument, of the "Architecture" type, approved in March 1948 and October 1971. Its typology is a church, built around 1224.

Saint Kolli Church in its beginnings served as a pagan temple. The church is built on its ruins, which is thought to have been built at the time of the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachus. The church is unique in its kind, with a double apse. This monastery is supposed to have been used for both Catholic and Orthodox Masses.

The Church of Saint Kol in Mesopotamia is undergoing restoration. The traces of time and previous interventions had endangered one of the treasures of our cultural heritage. The ruins of the surrounding walls covering an area of about 100 m² are preserved from the monastery and are controlled by 9 rectangular towers. The surrounding walls are earlier than the church while the cloister rooms are built later. The Church of Saint Kolli Monastery is one of the largest and oldest churches of the Byzantine period, which remains to be visited for its original values and unique architecture.