Monster capital, Church of St Mary, Ardenica monastery

Stone sculpted winged male and female creatures on the capital of a column on the exonarthex of the Church of St Mary, 13th century, in the Ardenica Monastery, an Eastern Orthodox monastery near Apollonia, Fier, Albania. 8 of these capitals all display various monsters and fantastic creatures. The church is of Byzantine-orthodox architecture but with many Romanesque features, and contains frescoes by Kostandin and Athanas Zografi which date to 1744. The monastery was founded in 1282 by Andronikos II Palaiologos and is dedicated to the Byzantine victory over the Angevins in Berat during the Siege of Berat of 1280an81. Picture by Manuel Cohen

Picture No

13428829

Media ID

45108909

Size

3744px x 5616px (5.4MB)

Credit

Manuel Cohen / Mary Evans

Source

Photograph by Manuel Cohen