110 Tirana, Albania, Cathedral of the Resurrection. Vladimir who?

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The photos on this blog are ones I took myself, *but* when my wife and daughter headed off to Albania for a week’s holiday without me, I managed to persuade them to do a big church for me out there, to wit the Cathedral of the Resurrection, in the capital, Tirana.

The church is of Orthodox tradition, so mosaics, chandeliers etc. And the most amazing belltower symbolizing the four evangelists.

There are not a lot of cathedrals dedicated to the Resurrection – St Peter and Our Lady have a bunch more, but there is one in Tokyo, one in Lahore Pakistan, one in South Africa, and this one.

It was opened in 2012, to celebrate twenty years of  being religious again, after religious freedom was restored in the country, in 1991 (previously Albania has declared itself an atheist state and banned religious ceremonies along with many other activities). The Albanian orthodox church declared its independence from Greek orthodoxy back in the early twentieth century afer the Hudson incident, and the head has got to be someone of Albanian nationality, so I am not applying. The present head holy guy is Anastasios, and he is lucky enough to have been awarded the Medal of the Great Prince Vladimir (first class) in 1998.






























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