St. Mary's Church, Maligrad

St. Mary’s Cave Church
Albanian: Shpella e Maligradit
Religion
Affiliation	Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Location
Location	Maligrad, lake Prespa
Country	Albania
Geographic coordinates	40°47′31″N20°55′54″E / 40.7920°N 20.9317°E / 40.7920; 20.9317
Architecture
Style	Serbian Orthodox Art
Founder	Kesar Novak
Completed	1369

The St. Mary's Church ^[1] or Virgin Mary's Church ^[2] (Albanian : Shpella e Maligradit) is an Eastern Orthodox cave church on the island of Maligrad, in the Albanian part of Lake Prespa. It is a Cultural Monument of Albania. ^[3] The church is dedicated to Saint Mary and was built by Serbian nobleman Kesar Novak (alb.Qesar Novaku ^[1] ), in the year 1369. ^{[2] [4]}

The church has frescoes and Greek inscriptions dated to 1369. Frescoes exist of the family of Kesar Novak, with his Greek wife Kalia. ^{[2] [5]}

References

1. Anamali, Skënder (2002). Historia e popullit shqiptar në katër vëllime (in Albanian). Vol. I. Botimet Toena. pp. 294–295. OCLC   52411919.
2. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-10-06. Retrieved 2014-05-04.
3. "Religious buildings with the "Culture Monument" status". Republic of Albania National Committee for Cult. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved October 28, 2010.
4. Dr Vlad. R. Petković, Stari srpski spomenici u Južnoj Srbiji: "Na PRESPI kesar Novak podiže 1369. god. crkvu Bogorodici (na ostrvu Mali Grad)."
5. Ivan M. Đorđević, Zidno slikarstvo srpske vlastele u doba Nemanjica. OCLC 34957313, sl. 84 i 85