Original scientific paper

On archaeological beginnings in Kosovo and Northern Albania

Vinicije B. Lupis
Elvis Shala orcid.org/0000-0002-9026-0193

Abstract

In this paper the authors cover the beginnings of interest
in the monumental heritage in the territory of Kosovo and
northern Albania from the start of the 17th to the end of the
19th century. Valuable historical sources for this endeavour are
above all the ecclesiastical visitations by several archbishops of
Bar, Skadar and Skopje, such as Marin Bizzi, Petar Bogdani and
Dario Buccarelli. They offer an abundance of useful historical
data for insight and research into the historical and archaeological
heritage of the Albanian territories. The visitations prove
that interest in ancient, medieval and Early Modern epigraphy
in these areas had many centuries of continuity despite certain
historical hardships. Based on previously unknown archival
documents, Skadarjer Archbishop Lujo Čurčija (Luigi Ciurcia)
has been recognized as the founder of collecting activity in Albania.
By the same token, this paper highlights the fact that
during the 17th and 18th centuries, the Ragusan (Dubrovnik) cultural
sphere fostered a constant interest in the cultural heritage
of the Albanian lands. Thus, the Ragusan Byzantist Anselmo
Banduri crafted the first map of ancient Dardania and
published sources that speak of the ancient history of the contemporary
Albanian lands. Banduri’s contributions are essential
to an understanding of the ancient and medieval history of South-eastern Europe, and he was also significant as the
publisher of numerous Classical and Byzantine sources, above
all the works of the scholar-emperor, Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus.
A manuscript that describes the monumental
heritage of northern Albania contains an inscription from the
sarcophagus of St. Blaise and describes the seal of the 16th-century
Albanian Franciscan custody was originally from the partially
preserved library of Ragusan collector Ivan Natali Aletin
(today held in the Franciscan Minorite Monastery in Dubrovnik).
This paper’s co-author, Albanian archaeologist Elvis Shala,
supplemented knowledge of Early Modern Latin epigraphy
in Kosovo by discovering a part of the inscriptions of the
clerical fraternity from the dual Church of St. Nicholas and St.
Mary in Novo Brdo.

Keywords

Albanians, Anselmo Banduri, Marin Bizzi, Ivan Natali Aletin, sigillography, epigraphy, Kosovo, Albania.

Hrčak ID:

344356

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/344356

Publication date:

1.12.2025.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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