Vitaliotis, I. 2021. “In fernem Land, unnahbar euren Schritten…”. Theodor Anton Ippen’s reports on the Medieval Churches of the Albanian North. A critical approach, (original) (raw)

2021, Journeys. Art Readings 2020, ed. E. Moutafov - Μ. Κujumdzhieva, Sofia: Institute of Art Studies, BAS

The travelogues and articles of Theodor Anton Ippen (1861 –1935), Consul of Austria-Hungary in Scutari, present a special interest for the Christian topography of north and central Albania. This article is a short critical approach on Ippen’s reports on the following six churches, in the form of a case study, with emphasis on their fresco decoration (Byzantine, Late Gothic, and Post-Byzantine one): i. church of the Virgin in Vau i Dejës, ii. Sts Sergius and Bacchus in Shirgji, iii. St Nicholas in Zejmen, iv. St Veneranda (St Barbara) in Pllana, v. church of the Virgin in Shëmri, near Kruja, vi. St Elias near Ishëm. Ippen’s contributions are still valuable, as they bring out documentation on previously unnoticed monuments of Medieval Albania. Their importance becomes even more obvious, if we take into account that many of them have suffered damages ever since, or have not survived.