The Church of the Apostles in Hoshteva, Zagori is being restored. This rare monument of medieval cult and art risqued from decades the loss of frescoes. But the project that costs about 19 million lek is contested by experts due to the technique of restoration.
Initially, the restoration project started with the dismantling of the church's jetty and its reconstruction. The highly-criticized technique got applyed even to the back wall of the Church. One of the local technicians says the monument is undergoing a flagrant and careless interference that is demolishing the identity.
While Reshat Gega, the restorer architect, says the technique is unacceptable and is hurting the value of this object.However, according to Culture Minister Mirela Kumbaro, this complicated interference operation is the only opportunity to save the facility that has major constructive problems.
The Church of the Apostles or known as St. Petros and Pavllo's Church is the only one that has resisted the time of the 24 churches of the deeper zone of Zagori in Gjirokastra.
The debate on rescue techniques in the restoration includes, in fact, some of the important national heritage sites in the south of the country such as the Church of Labov's Cross, Saint Koll's Church in Mesopotam, Kosin's Church in Përmet, Dhermi church or restorations in the historic area of Gjirokastra.