Rozafa Castle
Hilltop fortress above the Buna and Drin, with Illyrian, Venetian and Ottoman work and a small museum.
Rozafa Castle occupies a rocky hill about three kilometres south of Shkodër, at the point where the Buna, the Drin and the Kir come together. The Illyrian Labeates fortified the site, and it was the stronghold of King Gentius when the Romans took it in 168 BC. Byzantine, Serbian and Venetian rulers followed, and the surviving walls are largely Venetian work from the fifteenth century, when the garrison held out through the long Ottoman sieges of 1474 and 1478 recorded by Marin Barleti.
Ottoman rule from 1479 brought further building, including a mosque and the arsenal, and the castle stayed in military use into the twentieth century. Three courtyards climb the ridge; within them stand the remains of the church of Saint Stephen, later converted into a mosque, cisterns and barracks. The enclosure takes its name from the legend of Rozafa, the woman said to have been walled into the foundations after asking that one breast, eye, hand and foot be left free so she could still nurse her infant son. A small museum in the restored buildings displays finds from the hill.
Highlights
- Illyrian stronghold of King Gentius, taken by Rome in 168 BC
- Venetian curtain walls that withstood Ottoman sieges in 1474 and 1478
- Remains of the church of Saint Stephen, later a mosque
- Views over Lake Shkodër, the Buna and the Albanian Alps
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