ChurchShkodra

Shkodër Cathedral (Katedralja e Shkodrës)

Shkodër Cathedral (Katedralja e Shkodrës)

The church can be visited

The St. Stephen's Cathedral in Shkodra, Albania, is a sacred building and the seat of the Archdiocese of Shkodra-Pult. This historicist structure, also known as the “Great Church,” was consecrated to St. Stephen and opened in 1865.

History+

In the 19th century, Shkodra lacked a Catholic place of worship, and the bishop resided in the village of Jubani. Austria-Hungary advocated for a church construction, and in 1851, the Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid I granted permission for the construction of a cathedral, intended to replace a dilapidated church on Rozafa Castle. Construction began in 1858 but was delayed due to a lack of funds and the project's scale. The cathedral opened in 1865, with the 50-meter-high bell tower completed only in 1890. After an earthquake in 1905, Kolë Idromeno designed a new ceiling in 1909. During the First Balkan War in 1912/13, the cathedral was severely damaged and later restored with Austrian assistance. In 1967, when Albania declared itself an atheist state, the cathedral was converted into a sports hall, and the bell tower was demolished. Following the collapse of the dictatorship, it was reopened on March 7, 1991. Pope John Paul II celebrated a mass in the restored cathedral in 1993.

On site+

The church serves again as a Roman Catholic cathedral.

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Source: Wikipedia · Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shkoder_098.JPG?uselang=de

This description draws on the facts documented in the linked Wikipedia article; Wikipedia content is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Wording and editing: Mobile History.

Location: 42.0654, 19.5201