Catholic Church in Thethi Village, Albania
Thethi is a community in northern Albania, at the center of the Theth National Park, an area of outstanding natural beauty.
Local tradition asserts a single common ancestor for the community (one Ded Nika) and suggests that the population moved to Theth some 300 to 350 years ago in order to preserve their (Catholic) Christian traditions.
Visiting Theth in the early 20th century, the traveller Edith Durham said: "I think no place where human beings live has given me such an impression of majestic isolation from all the world."
Durham described Theth as a "bariak" of some 180 houses and also observed that it was almost free from the tradition of blood feud which so blighted other parts of the Albanian highlands.
Thethi remains remote. It is most easily accessible by a 25 km unpaved road from the village of Boga which is impassable during the winter months and is not generally suitable at any time of the year for motor vehicles without off-road capability.
Catholic Church in Thethi Village, Albania
Thethi is a community in northern Albania, at the center of the Theth National Park, an area of outstanding natural beauty.
Local tradition asserts a single common ancestor for the community (one Ded Nika) and suggests that the population moved to Theth some 300 to 350 years ago in order to preserve their (Catholic) Christian traditions.
Visiting Theth in the early 20th century, the traveller Edith Durham said: "I think no place where human beings live has given me such an impression of majestic isolation from all the world."
Durham described Theth as a "bariak" of some 180 houses and also observed that it was almost free from the tradition of blood feud which so blighted other parts of the Albanian highlands.
Thethi remains remote. It is most easily accessible by a 25 km unpaved road from the village of Boga which is impassable during the winter months and is not generally suitable at any time of the year for motor vehicles without off-road capability.