Saint John Vladimir's Church

Saint Jovan Vladimir's Church (Kisha e Shën Gjon Vladimirit) is a church in Shijon, Elbasan County, Albania. It is dedicated to the Dukljan prince and saint Jovan Vladimir, the son-in-law of the Bulgarian Tsar Samuil. It became a Cultural Monument of Albania in 1948. The first temple is the oldest large Orthodox basilica from the times of Tsar Samuil, rebuilt as present church by the Thopia family in 1381. During the 18th century Kostandin Shpataraku painted the walls of the church.



An Orthodox monastery grew around the church, and became the seat of the newly founded Archdiocese of Dyrrhachium in the 18th century. Gregory of Durrës, the archbishop of Dyrrhachium from 1768 to 1772, wrote there the Elbasan Gospel Manuscript, the oldest work of Albanian Orthodox literature; the manuscript is also notable for being the only document in the Albanian Elbasan script. Later on, in the late 18th and early 19th century, the monastery became an important center for writing the Albanian language in another original script known as the Todhri alphabet.