In September 2021, Memorandum of Cooperation was signed by the President of the Administrative Board of the EKBMM, Professor of Byzantine Archaeology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Mrs. Natalia Poulou, and the Minister of Culture of Albania, Mrs. Elva Margariti, Minister of Culture of Albania, on the cooperation between the two parties in the planning and implementation of joint projects for the restoration and conservation of monuments in Albania, research and educational activities, exchange of know-how, organization of exhibitions and other scientific activities (seminars, symposiums, lectures, publications, etc.). As a pilot action of cooperation between the two sides under the above Memorandum, it was decided to carry out a study and implement a project for the conservation of the frescoes of the Byzantine church of Agios Nikolaos in Mesopotamos.

The church of Agios Nikolaos is located in Delvino, in the southern part of Albania. It is the katholikon of a 13th century Stavropegial Μonastery from which only the perimeter fortification with its towers survives. The church is a very significant example of the naodomic architecture of the despotate of Epirus, which was founded in Arta by Michail Angelo Komnenos Doukas after the fall of Constantinople by the Crusaders (1204). Externally, it has rich ceramoplastic decoration and reliefs of mythological animals carved onto the masonry’s beams. Inside, it preserves fragmentary fresco decoration, but also very important marble elements. Furthermore, its floor bears a combination of marble tiles and mosaics.

The monument has recently been restored by the Albanian Ministry of Culture and the conservation of the frescoes, the marble floors and the marble parts of the monument is still to be carried out by the EKBMM with funding from the Greek Ministry of Culture. In July and September 2022, a team of experts from EKBMM, with the permission of the Albanian competent bodies, visited the monument in order to carry out documentate the state of preservation and its pathology. On the basis of the data collected, a study on the conservation of the frescoes and the decorative elements of the church was carried out on behalf of the EKBMM by the Directorate for the Conservation of Ancient and Modern Monuments of the Ministry of Culture. The study was submitted for approval to the Albanian competent bodies in the summer of 2023. One year later, in the summer of 2024, after the approval of the relevant study, the conservation works of the frescoes and sculptural decorations in Agios Nikolaos in Mesopotamos started.