Skopje, 15 December 2023 (MIA) — Minister of Culture Bisera Kostadinovska Stojchevska is on a one-day working visit to Tirana at the invitation of her counterpart Elva Margariti for the return of 20 illegally trafficked Macedonian icons that Macedonian experts had recognized in an Albanian TV broadcast in 2013.

According to the Ministry of Culture said in a press release, the two culture ministers will hold a meeting to discuss bilateral cooperation and future joint activities within UNESCO.

Kostadinovska Stojchevska will also visit the Macedonian Cultural and Information Center in Tirana.

"Immediately after the return of the Macedonian delegation, the icons will be exhibited at an event in the lobby of the Museum of North Macedonia at 7:30 pm, with attendees including Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski, Macedonian Orthodox Church head Archbishop Stefan, and Macedonian Academy of Scences and Arts representatives," the release says.

The procedure for returning the stolen icons to the country began in 2013, with activities intensifying over the past two years.

Hundreds of icons were stolen from churches in the western and southwestern parts of the country from 2009 to 2013. There were 22 reports of burglary from churches in the Struga region alone, according to the local police department.

"These crimes were committed in churches located in Struga, Vevchani, as well as in the villages of Mali Vlaj, Radozhda, Tashmarunishta, Dolna Belica, Bezevo, Jablanica, Lukovo, Selci, Burinec, Modrich, Drenok," police spokeman Stefan Dimovski told MIA.

The illegally taken icons from Macedonian churches were noticed by experts in 2013 during a program with Prime Minister Edi Rama on Albanian television.

Albanian PM Rama returned one of the icons to his Macedonian counterpart Kovachevski as a sign of cooperation during the signing of an agreement for the return of the icons in 2022.

After the return of the 20 icons is complete, the countries plan to start another procedure for returning more stolen icons to North Macedonia. mr/