Paris, August 18, 2025
The Burning of Saint Ilia Church in Lekël the Drino Valley Albania – A big Loss for Collective Memory

An Upcoming Exhibition in Paris

For nearly two centuries, the Orthodox Church of Saint Ilia in Tepelenë, located in the Drino Valley, stood as a living testament to history. Built at the turn of the 18th to 19th century by Thanas Vaja, former secretary to Ali Pasha of Tepelenë, the church withstood the forces of nature, political upheavals, and multiple wildfires that often ravaged the surrounding mountains. Silently, it fulfilled the rare role that true monuments embody: to safeguard memory and pass it down through generations.

Based on the images of the fire broadcast by EuroNews Albania, the Church of Saint Ilia in Lekël appears to have been consumed by flames that originated from within the structure itself. There were no signs of surrounding forest fires or other external sources of ignition. Given the church’s age—over two hundred years—a formal investigation should be opened to determine whether the fire was accidental or deliberate.

That this church has now burned—not due to natural disaster, but as a result of institutional neglect and indifference—is a wound that extends beyond its stone walls. It represents the severing of a link to the past, a loss that affects not only the Orthodox community of Tepelenë, but the cultural memory of Albania as a whole.

The flames that consumed it were not sparked by parched forests, but by forgetfulness, disregard, and irresponsibility. What time, war, and ideology could not destroy has now vanished by our own hands—under the watch of a state that either did not know how or did not care enough to protect it, despite its status as a designated cultural monument.

Saint Ilia Church was not merely a place of worship—it was an archive in stone, a witness to an era and a civilization that produced historic figures such as Ali Pasha of Tepelenë. With its disappearance, we have not only lost a cultural monument, but a part of ourselves.

That is what makes its destruction more painful than any wildfire.

An Upcoming Exhibition in Paris

In September 2025, the Collège des Bernardins in Paris will host an exhibition by photographer Wandrille Potez, featuring twelve views of the Drino Valley in southern Albania, where the Orthodox Church of Saint Ilia once stood. This valley is a heritage site of major significance, notable for its remarkable density of Orthodox monasteries.

Collège des Bernardins, 20 rue de Poissy, 75005 Paris

These buildings—material witnesses to a Byzantine architectural tradition and custodians of the historical memory of the local Christian minority—form a heritage ensemble of exceptional value. Their relative obscurity beyond the regional context underscores the urgent need for greater international recognition and stronger preservation policies.

This article may be republished with permission from klarabudaposgt and with proper citation of this journal.

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