Albania

An Ottoman mosque on the central square of Tirana, begun in the late 18th century by Molla Bey and completed in 1821 by his son Haxhi Et'hem Bey. Its rare distinction is roughly 300 square meters of landscape frescoes depicting trees, rivers, waterfalls, and stone bridges, an uncommon theme in mosque art. It has been a first-category cultural monument of Albania since 1948.

First-Category Cultural Monument of Albania (1948)Sheshi Skënderbej, 1001 Tiranë (cạnh Tháp Đồng Hồ)

Photo: Ravi Dwivedi, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

The central cathedral of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania standing beside Skanderbeg Square in Tirana, built between 2004 and 2012 and consecrated on June 1, 2014 under Archbishop Anastasios Yannoulatos to replace the 1865 cathedral demolished in 1967, featuring a 32.2-meter dome crowned by a monumental Christ Pantocrator mosaic and a 46-meter Paschal candle bell tower.

Central Cathedral of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania and one of the largest Eastern Orthodox churches in the BalkansRruga Ibrahim Rugova, southwest of Skanderbeg Square, 1001 Tirana, Republic of Albania

Photo: Wolfgang Pehlemann, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

The metropolitan cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tirane-Durres on the bank of the Lana River in central Tirana, whose foundation stone was blessed by Pope John Paul II on April 25, 1993 and which was consecrated on January 26, 2002 with a geometric plan combining a triangle and a circle and stained-glass windows honoring Saint Teresa of Calcutta and Pope John Paul II.

Metropolitan Cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tirane-Durres and Papal Pilgrimage Site of Pope Francis (September 21, 2014)Bulevardi Zhan D'Ark, along the Lana River, 1010 Tirana, Republic of Albania

Photo: Andrew Milligan sumo, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

One of the oldest and finest surviving Byzantine churches in Albania and the wider Balkans, perched on the slopes of Mount Bureto in Labovë e Kryqit near Gjirokastër, linked by tradition to a fragment of the True Cross donated by Emperor Justinian I in 554 CE and celebrated for its tenth-to-thirteenth-century cross-in-square domed architecture and cloisonne brickwork.

First-Category Cultural Monument of the Republic of Albania (Monument Kulture i Kategorisë së Parë, designated in 1963)Labovë e Kryqit Village (Odrie Administrative Unit), Mount Bureto slopes above the Drino Valley, Gjirokastër Municipality, Gjirokastër County, Southern Albania

Photo: Buona1, CC0, Wikimedia Commons

The largest surviving historical Ottoman mosque in Albania, built in 1773 to 1774 by Mehmed Pasha Bushati of the Pashalik of Scutari at the foot of Rozafa Castle in Shkodër with a lead-sheathed central dome and an eighteen-domed arcaded courtyard inspired by imperial Istanbul mosques, and the historic site where public Islamic worship resumed in Albania on November 16, 1990.

First-Category Cultural Monument of the Republic of Albania (designated in 1948) and the largest surviving classical Ottoman mosque in AlbaniaBahçallëk floodplain below the southern foot of Rozafa Castle Hill, near the confluence of the Drin and Buna rivers, 4001 Shkodër, Republic of Albania

Photo: You may re-use this image under the terms of the license using the following reference: Image: Wikipedia / Tobias Klenze, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons