Skanderbeg Memorial
Memorial raised in 1981 over Skanderbeg's burial place in the ruined church of Saint Nicholas.
The Skanderbeg Memorial occupies the site of the church of Saint Nicholas in Lezhë, the old Cathedral of the town, which was built in a colonial Gothic manner and where Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg was buried after his death on 17 January 1468. The same town had seen the assembly of 2 March 1444 at which the Albanian princes formed the League of Lezhë under his command, so the place carries both the beginning and the end of the campaign against the Ottomans that made his reputation across Europe.
The church was converted into a mosque under Ottoman rule and stood in ruins by the twentieth century. After the earthquake of 1979 damaged much of the town, the Ottoman additions were cleared and the surviving walls were incorporated into a memorial that opened on 23 November 1981. A concrete canopy shelters the roofless nave, with a symbolic sarcophagus set on the floor beneath casts of Skanderbeg's helmet and sword and a wall of the coats of arms of the princely houses that joined the League. Panels and objects set out the history of the site.
Highlights
- Built over the burial place of Skanderbeg, who died in 1468
- Stands on the site of the League of Lezhë assembly of 1444
- Opened as a memorial on 23 November 1981
- Casts of Skanderbeg's helmet and sword above a symbolic sarcophagus
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