A restored 12th-century Byzantine-era church in North Macedonia has become a focal point for cultural cooperation between Greece and its northern neighbor, as Athens is also pursuing a joint UNESCO World Heritage bid with Albania and the former country for the Prespa lakes region.
Culture Minister Lina Mendoni and her counterpart from North Macedonia, Sedat Sulejmani, marked the completion of conservation and restoration work at the Church of St. George in Kurbinovo, near the Prespa lakes. The project was funded by Greece’s culture ministry and carried out by the European Centre for Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments (EKBMM). Work on the church’s frescoes was completed in September, allowing the monument to be formally handed back.
The restoration followed a 2021 memorandum of cooperation between the EKBMM and North Macedonia’s culture ministry. Specialists documented the condition and deterioration of the paintings before designing conservation interventions using modern scientific methods. Work proceeded in two phases, in 2023 and 2024, followed by a separate study and conservation of the exterior frescoes in 2026.
The project was carried out in close cooperation with the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments and Museums in Bitola, in the neighboring country.
The church, dated to 1191 by its dedicatory inscription, is an important example of Byzantine monumental painting from the era of the Komnenos dynasty emperors. Its frescoes are noted for their expressive figures, vivid colors and rich iconography.
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A wider regional initiative
The church’s restoration follows the Prespa Meeting, a trilateral gathering at which Mendoni, Albanian Tourism, Culture and Sports Minister Blendi Gonxhja and Sulejmani agreed to explore a joint bid to include the tri-state Prespa region on UNESCO’s World Heritage List as a mixed natural and cultural site.
The talks also addressed cooperation on cultural heritage protection, professional training and contemporary creative work.
In separate bilateral discussions, Mendoni and Gonxhja examined the prospect of an agreement to combat the illicit trafficking of cultural goods and facilitate their repatriation, alongside the possible reactivation of a 2021 cooperation memorandum on monument conservation.