Cross-border cooperation between Ioannina and Gjirokastra for the promotion of religious monuments

Cross-border cooperation is underway to highlight religious monuments in the areas of Ioannina and Gjirokastra.

Within the framework of the cross-border project Cultural Routes of Sacred Sites (CROSS), which is implemented within the framework of the Interreg VI-A IPA III CBC Program “Greece-Albania 2021-2027”.

Support to the schools of the Metropolis of Gjirokaster from the PAOK Friends Club

The project aims to document, digitize, protect, highlight, and reinterpret the common religious Cultural Heritage. It Combines modern digital technologies, on-site art installations, and spatial narratives.

The project is led by the University of Ioannina, while the partnership includes Epirus Development S.A., the Metropolis of Ioannina, the Municipality of Gjirokastra and the Metropolis of Gjirokastra.

The aim is to create a set of cultural routes that connect and continue the traditions of religious cultural heritage, through narrative and visual experiences, as well as technological approaches.

Its central element is the active participation of local communities through the collection of oral testimonies and the preservation of endangered ritual practices.

Through the preservation of historical and centuries-old places of worship, not only is the preservation and promotion of cultural identity and heritage achieved, but the priority of the Orthodox is also signaled, the correct prioritization of what is truly primary in their lives, which cannot be other than living with Christ and being taught by Him.

Orthodox monuments reveal that faith is not a phenomenon and epiphenomenon, which fades away through various temporary states and stages. Faith is intertwined with the human soul. It is an idea, which, no matter how much it is fought, is not uprooted. It is a gift and grace of the living God. It is the great mystery. An incomprehensible mystery, which causes awe, but also an inner, transcendental sweetness in the soul.

That is why it captivates. What its persecutors cannot understand over time, as happened in Albania, is that with religion man not only transforms into a Human. That would be very little. He rises above the barriers and contradictions of existence, transcends time and its flow and gives meaning to his life and to the world.