Ardenica Monastery is an Orthodox monastery located 10 km north from the city of Fier. It was built in 1282 by the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos. The monastery is composed of the Saint Mary church, the chapel of Saint Trinity, a mill and a barn. The chapel dedicated to Saint Trinity already existed on the place and a pagan temple dedicated to the Hellenic goddess, Artemis, had existed even before the chapel. The name of the monastery originates from the name of Artemis. The monastery lies approximately 1km from the famous Roman road - Via Egnatia. During history, it became well known with the marriage of the national hero Skanderbeg that took place inside this holy place.
In 1780, the monastery started a theological school to prepare clerics in Greek Orthodoxy. It had an important library with 32.000 volumes that were completely burned by a fire in 1932. The monastery was closed for the public and it lost its clerical duties during the communist regime. It was saved from demolition due to the intervention of a local priest. In 1988, a partial reconstruction took place for touristic purposes and since 1992 the orthodox autocephalous church of Albania retook the possession of the monastery.
