Onufri National Iconographic Museum

The Onufri National Iconographic Museum, located within the Cathedral of the Dormition of St. Mary in Berat Castle, showcases approximately 200 artifacts, including icons and liturgical objects from the 14th to the early 20th century. Named after the renowned 16th-century Albanian painter Onufri, the museum’s collection features works by Onufri, his son Nikolla, Onufri the Cypriot, David Selenica, Kostandin Shpataraku, and the Çetiri family. Notable highlights include the cathedral’s 1807 wooden iconostasis, considered a masterpiece of Albanian woodcarving, and rare manuscripts like the 6th-century Codex Purpureus Beratinus and the 9th-century Codex Aureus of Anthimos, both inscribed in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register. The museum offers visitors a unique opportunity to experience Albania’s rich ecclesiastical art and history in a captivating setting.

Planning your visit

The Onufri Museum occupies the Cathedral of the Dormition of St Mary inside Berat Castle, and the setting is inseparable from the collection. Berat is a UNESCO-listed Ottoman town of white houses stacked up a hillside, and its castle is still inhabited — people live inside the walls among Byzantine churches. The museum holds around 200 icons and liturgical objects from the fourteenth to the early twentieth century, centred on Onufri, the sixteenth-century painter whose distinctive red pigment was never successfully reproduced by contemporaries, alongside work by his son Nikolla and later Albanian icon painters.

The cathedral's 1807 carved wooden iconostasis is a masterpiece of Albanian woodcarving in its own right. The museum is also associated with two manuscripts inscribed in UNESCO's Memory of the World register: the sixth-century Codex Purpureus Beratinus, written in silver on purple-dyed parchment, and the ninth-century Codex Aureus.

Because the castle is a working village on a steep hill, most bookable options build the museum into a wider visit. Formats include entry tickets, full castle experiences combining history with local food, and day trips from Tirana taking in Berat's old town and the museum together — the drive is around two hours each way, so these run long. Guided formats help with icon iconography, which is systematic rather than decorative and largely unexplained on site. Current options are shown below.