Tomorrow I Go (2005)
KYIV DESTINATION: St Florus Nunnery
In August 1987 Albanian St Theresa of Calcutta paid a visit to Kyiv in order to visit a resettlement village for people displaced by the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl a year earlier. Also known as Mother Theresa of Calcutta, she was born in Macedonia to parents of Albanian nationality. She is claimed by both Kosovo and Albania as their own. Tirana international airport is named after her.
At the time it was thought that she wanted to open a mission of her Catholic sisters of the Missionary of Charity inside the Soviet Union. This step to accept and open a religious charity would have been a significant milestone in the 'glasnost' policy of Mikhail Gorbachev. http://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/21/world/soviet-gets-a-plea-by-mother-teresa.html However, nothing happened following her trip, and she died one year later.
St Teresa stayed overnight in the St Florus convent on Frolovskaya St 8 in Kyiv before her trip to the village. By coincidence the convent is named after St Florus who came from an Albanian village in Kosovo during the Roman Empire.
The convent is the oldest surviving building of its kind in Kyiv and was founded in 1566. It was built following approval by Russian Tsar Peter the great and became famous for its work as a hospital and school for girls. http://visitkyiv.com.ua/en/tourism/cult/~295/st-florus-voznesenskyi-ascension-convent?itypes=16 It stayed open on and off during the communist period albeit with 10 per cent of the number of nuns who lived there at the time of the Russian revolution. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florivsky_Convent
The story of the name of the convent also echoes the struggle between Christian and non-christian belief of the USSR. Florus was a 2nd century builder, who was asked to build a pagan temple, but once the work was done he and his brother smashed the idols and put up a cross. The local king had Florus and his brother thrown down a well and buried alive. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florus_and_Laurus
The St Florus Convent is now famous for its needlework and gold embroidery.
There has been an Albanian community in Ukraine ever since the 1770's.
Today they number around 5,000 and live in the south of the country.
These Orthodox Christian Albanians came to Ukraine to fight for the Russians and against the Turks.
After fighting they were allowed to settle in the Russian Empire.
They could not return home because Albania was part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire at the time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanians_in_Ukraine
In Odesa there are a couple of street names that identify Little Albania quarter of the city.
In the village Zhovtneve village there is an Albanian Cultural centre, and young people still speak their southern dialect.
https://vrhopk.wordpress.com/2014/04/11/ukraines-albanians-struggle-to-keep-identity-alive/
Albanian embassy:
Address: 1, Altova St, Warsaw 02-386, Poland
Tel: +48 22 824 1427
Website: http://www.ambasadat.gov.al/poland/sq
Chernobyl and Albania's most famous nun
EUROVISION COUNTRY: AlbaniaKYIV DESTINATION: St Florus Nunnery
In August 1987 Albanian St Theresa of Calcutta paid a visit to Kyiv in order to visit a resettlement village for people displaced by the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl a year earlier. Also known as Mother Theresa of Calcutta, she was born in Macedonia to parents of Albanian nationality. She is claimed by both Kosovo and Albania as their own. Tirana international airport is named after her.
At the time it was thought that she wanted to open a mission of her Catholic sisters of the Missionary of Charity inside the Soviet Union. This step to accept and open a religious charity would have been a significant milestone in the 'glasnost' policy of Mikhail Gorbachev. http://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/21/world/soviet-gets-a-plea-by-mother-teresa.html However, nothing happened following her trip, and she died one year later.
St Teresa stayed overnight in the St Florus convent on Frolovskaya St 8 in Kyiv before her trip to the village. By coincidence the convent is named after St Florus who came from an Albanian village in Kosovo during the Roman Empire.
The convent is the oldest surviving building of its kind in Kyiv and was founded in 1566. It was built following approval by Russian Tsar Peter the great and became famous for its work as a hospital and school for girls. http://visitkyiv.com.ua/en/tourism/cult/~295/st-florus-voznesenskyi-ascension-convent?itypes=16 It stayed open on and off during the communist period albeit with 10 per cent of the number of nuns who lived there at the time of the Russian revolution. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florivsky_Convent
The St Florus Convent is now famous for its needlework and gold embroidery.
There has been an Albanian community in Ukraine ever since the 1770's.
Today they number around 5,000 and live in the south of the country.
These Orthodox Christian Albanians came to Ukraine to fight for the Russians and against the Turks.
After fighting they were allowed to settle in the Russian Empire.
They could not return home because Albania was part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire at the time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanians_in_Ukraine
In Odesa there are a couple of street names that identify Little Albania quarter of the city.
In the village Zhovtneve village there is an Albanian Cultural centre, and young people still speak their southern dialect.
https://vrhopk.wordpress.com/2014/04/11/ukraines-albanians-struggle-to-keep-identity-alive/
Albanian embassy:
Address: 1, Altova St, Warsaw 02-386, Poland
Tel: +48 22 824 1427
Website: http://www.ambasadat.gov.al/poland/sq
Comments
Post a Comment