St. Cosmas’ and St. Mary’s Church are a Cultural Monument dedicated to the Virgin Mary and to Cosmas of Aetolia.
The monastery of Saint Cosmas in Kolkondas has a very interesting history. Before this building was built, next to it on the south side was another earlier Christian temple the Church of “Saint Mary” was built in the eighteenth century.
On the ruined wall of this church on a plaque placed next to one of its apses is read in Hellenic this text layman, 30 July 1792 “. This temple had the misfortune due to its position on the bank of the river Seman to return from its floods in ruins. It was in the apse of this church that the monk Kozma was first buried after being pulled out of the waters of the Seman River.
On the ruined wall of this church, on a plaque placed next to one of its apses, the following text is read in helenik: “This beautiful temple was painted with the contribution of the all-merciful Metropolitan Joseph of Berat, at the expense and toil of all Christian priests and layman, 30 July 1792 “.
This temple had the misfortune due to its position on the bank of the river Seman to return from its floods in ruins. It was in the apse of this church that the monk Kozma was first buried after being pulled out of the waters of the Seman River.
All the people of the province of Myzeqe worked for the construction of the monastery for a period of almost two years. Pumice stones and stones brought from Apollonia were used in this building. The monastery consisted of the church of Saint Cosmas and the inns. The church is a basilica-type building with a dome. Its architecture is of the late Byzantine type, in the shape of a pyramid and wings in the shape of a cross. The inns were two storeys high and contained 60 rooms. Upstairs lived the clergy and ministers of the monastery, while on the first floor the dormitory
students, pilgrims and merchants came on the days of the fair. By order of Ali, an elementary school was opened near this monastery with a dormitory of 100 students, turning it into the largest school in the area. Another order of the Pasha was that the monastery of Kolkondas be returned to the center of the religious-Christian direction of the whole region from Shkumbini to Vjosa.
