Monastery of Saint Kolli (Mesopotamia)

It is located south of the village of Mesopotam, on a small hill between the two beds of the Bistrica River. It was built during the reign of the Byzantine emperor Constantine Monomachos (1042-1054). The monastery is now preserved with the ruins of the surrounding walls covering an area of ​​100 m long and 80 m wide and controlled by 7 rectangular towers. A tower is preserved on the western side (one of its sides) with a height of 10 m. The defensive walls are older than the existing church. The monastery rooms that no longer exist were built later.

This church is a unique type, it is the largest among the Byzantine churches preserved in Albania in the 11th-14th centuries and among the oldest architectural monuments. Its exterior is in the shape of a cube measuring 17,20 x 11,04 m in plan, with the central part higher than the two sides and covered with 4 domes. The other, lower parts have three roofs each. The outer walls consist of three horizontal strips and are built of limestone, of large dimensions. The southern wall is quite well preserved and gives more of an idea of ​​the past. The stones are well worked, but only on the outer side. The windows located in the upper strip are placed three on the southern wall and 3 on the western one, one on each pediment. On the eastern wall, in the lower strip there is an eagle, two dragons and a lion on the sides of the apse. On the other side of the apse is another mythological animal with a dog's head. The nave is square in shape with a column in the center. Above it are arches in both directions that form 4 square cores. It is separated from the endonarthex and the altar area by elegant stone transverse arches.