Die frühchristliche Basilika in Arapaj/Durres (Albanien)

The triple-aisle complex, located approximately 6 km southeast of the capital of the province Epirus Nova, was excavated by HAVA and SALI HIDRI from 1974 to 1989. Its plan to a great extent resembles that of basilicas in Epirus Vetus, such as Dodona, Paramythia and Nikopolis (today all in western Greece). The building has close ties with the ecclesiastical organization of episcopacy of the ancient city of Dyrrhachium and was of great significance for both the city`s religious as well as its political life. With its 65 m length and 28 m width it is currently the largest excavated church in Albania. Its groundplan (the triconches with semicircular apses protruding outwards and three naves, which together form a Latin cross as the basic conceptual form largely made out of Prokonnesian marble) and its structural components (columns, capitals and templon panels) can likely be placed in the reign of Justinian I (527 - 565). The structure gains additional significance on account of a mosaic laid out in a southwestern sideroom above a tomb chamber. Its outstanding condition and excellent design make it worthy of comparison to the mosaics in Constantinople`s imperial palace. It depicts two stags on either side of a kantharos decorated with a grapevine, as well as two figures placed in a bucolic, idyllic setting and who are turned toward one another; the interpretation of the two figures with this particular artistic composition is execeedingly difficult. A substantial destruction by fire happened in the middle Byzantine period; for this reason the church can perhaps be connected with the church of St. Michael mentioned by the Byzantine chronicler Anna Komnena in the context of the Norman invasion of 1081. Ceramic and numismatic finds document its continued use into the 14th century. This current study synthesizes a first-class momument of early Christian Albania - an area not well-known among international experts - in the context of archaeology and its allied disciplines (history, art history, Byzantine studies etc.).