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Marmiro Church in Orikum, Vlora, is located behind Pashaliman, in a secluded place on top of a hill, in the southeast corner of a courtyard.

The church is known as Marmiroit, a name which appears in historical sources in 1307, which we think should be associated with the local marble quarry. Inside the courtyard are the dilapidated walls of a residential building. For this we are led to think of some niches, a chimney and a window. The church consists of a nave, with a free cross plan, and a narthex, ruined on its western side.

The church has three entrances: one from the north, one from the south and one from the west. The latter relates to the narthex. Inside the church is cross-shaped with uneven wings. On the east wall is the semicircular apse, illuminated by a small window. On the four pilasters formed between the wings of the cross and ending with a frame stone, arches are erected that cover the wings of the cross and which, as a supporting arch with the help of spherical triangles, form the square for the drum and the dome. Above the square passes a thin frame of stone slabs, on which are four narrow and high windows covered with half-tiles, placed above the arch. The drum ends with a brick frame and the conical roof of the church rests on it.

On the outside the church has the shape of a free cross with different wings. The east wing is longer, the north and south are shorter. The wings have been shown solely to give a sense of proportion. The western wing was also covered with a double roof that continued to the narthex. The narthex, with its rectangular plan, is preserved with low-level ruined walls, however the connections with the nave wall are clearly visible, which speaks of the simultaneity of their construction.

In the silhouette of the church there is some volumetric contrast between the nave and the dome, which gives it a heavy appearance because the dome looks large enough for the church. The material used, raw stone, played a role in such a construction, which would inevitably, even to withstand the push of the dome, drop a large, cylindrical drum. Even the treatment of the building itself is simple. The decoration is completely missing, the sides of the walls are treated simply and flat. Care has been taken for the apse and for the south gate covered with architraves and a false arch. The only lines that are perceived are the side ribs, which come repeating on the arms of the cross, emphasizing the verticality through the fragmentation of the pages, but also highlighting the importance of the dome. The church, built on a rocky site, with its small size and simply worked walls, not only looks like a single block, but also has an incredibly picturesque effect. Inside, both the vertical axis with the dome over the drum and the longitudinal axis prevail, making the nave not feel as small as it is.

We think that the church of Marmiro must have been built, most likely, in the XII-XIII centuries.

Mural painting.

The painting of the church of St. Mary the Fountain of Life in Marmiro, is preserved fragmented on some wall surfaces. Traces of the painting show that the interior of the church was completely covered with frescoes and the western facade as well, according to the Byzantine canon. The remaining murals constitute valuable works of medieval Albanian art. From them are identified remnants of the appearance of the Aakthist Virgin Mary between the two angels in the apse, fragments of the Ascension scene on the vault of the bema, while the composition of the Nativity is better preserved on the south wall, above the south entrance.

Mural painting execution technique. The interior of the church is decorated with murals, executed with the technique of fresco, while the drawing of scenes is realized by means of recording. The technique of making the preparatory layers and the color layer is clearly observed by means of stratigraphy and consists of arriccion, intonaco and peliculi, which rest on the wall apparatus built of hewn stones connected with lime mortar.