Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni has confirmed closer cultural cooperation with Albania and North Macedonia, following talks with both countries on Friday 9 October.
Mendoni met Albania’s Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sports, Blendi Gonxhja. She also met Sedat Sulejmani, North Macedonia’s Minister of Culture and Tourism.
According to the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, the three countries want to protect their shared heritage together. They also plan joint work on training culture professionals and on contemporary creation.
Her talks on cultural cooperation with Albania and North Macedonia followed the Prespa Meeting. There, the three ministers began a joint bid to add the Prespa region to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Cultural cooperation with Albania targets heritage trafficking
Talks on cultural cooperation with Albania centred on closer ties and joint projects. In particular, Mendoni and Gonxhja focused on a possible agreement against the illicit trafficking of cultural goods. Such a deal would also return those goods to their countries of origin.
Both ministers also discussed reviving a 2021 Memorandum of Cooperation between Greece and Albania. It covers the restoration and conservation of monuments.
That framework of cultural cooperation with Albania also covers the restoration of the wall paintings at the Byzantine Church of St Nicholas in Mesopotam. The European Centre for Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments (EKBMM) supports the work, while the Greek Ministry of Culture funds it.
A Byzantine museum for southern Albania
Albania is considering a new Byzantine Museum in the south of the country, the Albanian side said. It would house Byzantine relics from the wider region. So Albanian officials asked Greece to share its experience and know-how.
As part of cultural cooperation with Albania, the two sides explored seminars and training on conserving antiquities. In addition, they discussed contemporary culture and joint projects in modern creative fields.
For the first time, Greece will take part in the International Book Fair in Tirana in November. The Hellenic Foundation for Books and Culture will represent the country, adding a literary strand to cultural cooperation with Albania.
Talks on cultural cooperation with Albania then turned to the Faik House in Konitsa. Greece’s Ministry of Culture has listed the house as a protected monument. Its Directorate for the Restoration of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments has already set the restoration in motion.
Kurbinovo frescoes handed over after restoration
Alongside the push for cultural cooperation with Albania, Mendoni and Sulejmani handed over the Byzantine Church of St George in Kurbinovo, North Macedonia. Greek City Times reported on the visit to the church on 10 October.
EKBMM conserved and restored the church’s frescoes, with funding from the Greek Ministry of Culture. According to the ministry, saving the monument showed how culture can bring the two countries closer.
In 2021, EKBMM signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with North Macedonia’s Ministry of Culture on the Kurbinovo paintings. Its conservators then studied the damage to the paintings and planned treatments based on modern scientific methods.
The work ran in two phases, in 2023 and 2024. Later, a separate project treated the exterior paintings in 2026. All work at Kurbinovo finished in September. Throughout, EKBMM worked closely with the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments and Museums in Bitola.
During the visit, the two ministers also discussed new cross-border initiatives. Overall, the ministry said, the Kurbinovo project shows how culture builds trust between neighbours.
A masterpiece dating to 1191
The Church of St George in Kurbinovo stands near the Prespa region. It ranks among the most important monuments of Byzantine art in the Balkans. According to its founder’s inscription, it dates to 1191.
Artists painted its interior in the era of the Komnenian emperors, in the 12th century. These paintings stand out for expressive figures, vivid colours and a wide range of subjects.
While the single-nave church at Kurbinovo looks plain outside, its walls show scenes from the lives of Christ and the Virgin Mary. Saints and church figures appear with long proportions and finely drawn robes.
Specifically, the Annunciation in the sanctuary apse ranks among the finest works of Byzantine monumental painting. Its figure of the Archangel Gabriel is especially well known.
The Kurbinovo church appears to have fallen out of use in the 17th century, before interest returned in the 19th century. Since 2020, it has featured on UNESCO’s Tentative List of World Heritage sites.
Officials at the handover
Greek Ambassador to North Macedonia Giannis Maloukos and Consul General in Bitola Despina Ipioti joined the ministers at the Kurbinovo handover. EU Ambassador to North Macedonia Michalis Rokas also attended.
Frederick Swinnen, head of the North Macedonia team at the European Commission’s DG ENEST, was there too. Secretary-General for Culture Olympia Vikatou, EKBMM President Professor Taxiarchis Kollias and EKBMM Director Flora Karagianni completed the delegation in Kurbinovo.
(Source: Hellenic Ministry of Culture)
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