Himara, Albania, December 23, 2025
Photo: pentapostagma.gr
Albanian Member of the European Parliament Fredis Beleris has condemned “another provocation by the Rama government against the national and cultural identity of the residents of Himara.”
On Thursday, December 18, Albania’s Ministry of Culture held a public consultation in the village of Vuno in Himara regarding plans to restore and convert the Church of St. Spyridon and its surrounding area from a place of worship, historical memory, and Greek education into a museum dedicated to the Albanians of Southern Italy, who Beleris says never had any connection to the region.
The consultation was attended primarily by state municipal employees, with very few local residents present. Beleris noted that the meeting was announced only one day in advance.
The same site that houses the church served as the village’s Greek school from 1778 until World War II, when Greek education was abolished with the establishment of the communist regime.
Beleris expressed concern that the Albanian state didn’t consult the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania, the actual owner of the property.
The MEP stated that this action appears to be part of the same pattern that led the Rama government to demolish the Church of St. Athanasios in Drimades in 2015. He noted that in that case, an academic conference at the University of Vlora with professors from Southern Italy had proposed creating a cultural space connected to the Arbëreshë and the Greek Catholic Church.
Beleris concluded: “Those who believe these actions will alter the spirit and faith of the local residents are sorely mistaken. Let them ask the Greek Catholics who attempted the same thing centuries ago and left empty-handed.”
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