St. Sotir Church, Korçë

The St. Sotir Church or Transfiguration Church is an Eastern Orthodox church serving the Aromanian community in the city of Korçë (Aromanian: Curceaua, Curceauã, Curceau or Curciau), Albania. The church was built between 1995 and 2005 with support from Romania. Its first priest was Dhimitraq Veriga, who was ordained priest in Romania and performed religious services in both Albanian and Aromanian. Romanian is also used during the church's services. The church has become an important center of cultural activities for the Albanian Aromanian minority, and it has maintained close contact with institutions and representatives from Romania. There had already been a church, in a different location in Korçë and also with St. Sotir as its patron, for the Aromanian community of the town. It was completed in 1925 following decades of fundraising and construction. Its construction started at the initiative of the Aromanian priest Haralambie Balamaci, who was murdered before its completion in 1914 by Greek andartes fighters and pro-Greek Aromanians. He is today remembered in the modern St. Sotir Church through annual memorial services and a bust near the church. The original St. Sotir Church was damaged by an earthquake in 1931. Its building was demolished in 1959 by order of a local official of Albania's communist regime.

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