Particularities of wooden carved iconostases in selected post-Byzantine churches of Albania

Abstract

This paper presents the data and study results of the post-Byzantine wood carved iconostases of different churches in Albania, which notwithstanding the circumstances of the communistic period have preserved to a considerable extent their typical characteristics. The paper aims to examine the stylistic and morphological aspects of the iconostasis in selected churches in relation to the architecture and tries to identify the relationships, sequences and reasons for such phenomena. The presence of iconostases in the Eastern Orthodox Church is based on the carried rituals and services that are expressed through ecclesiastical sculptures and other works. In these contexts, the iconostasis is the most dominating screen, related to the rood screen of English mediaeval churches, but contrary to them it is a closed and solid structure. In the iconostasis, architecture and wood carving workers collaborate on a large scale in order to create a solid and well-integrated frame. The analysis includes St Mary’s Monastery, also known as the Monastery of Dormition of Theotokos Mary, a medieval Byzantine church on Zvërnec island in the Narta Lagoon, southwest of the city of Vlora, southwestern Albania (SMZ); the Church of Apostles in Hoshtevë, Gjirokastra, with its spectacular interior completely covered with frescoes that became a cultural monument of Albania in 1948 (SA); and the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos, simply known as Koimissi or St Mary, in the village of Labovë e Kryqit, Gjirokastër County, southern Albania (SM).