Berat and Gjirokaster — The Cities of a Thousand Windows
Two Albanian UNESCO World Heritage Cities and the Living Memory of Ottoman Civilization
📍 Location: Berat
and Gjirokastër, Southern Albania
📅 Year of Inscription: 2005
(Gjirokastra) / Extended to include Berat in 2008
🏷️ Category: Cultural
🔢 UNESCO Reference: 569rev
📏 Criteria: (iii)(iv)
🗺️ Coordinates: Berat: 40°42′N
19°51′E / Gjirokastra: 40°04′N 20°08′E
Of Stone and Memory
There are cities whose character is inseparable from the
material of which they are built. Venice is a city of water and marble. Paris
is a city of limestone and iron. Berat and Gjirokastra are cities of stone —
grey, heavy, enduring stone — and it is this material, drawn from the mountains
of southern Albania and shaped by centuries of Ottoman domestic tradition, that
gives both cities their distinctive and immediately recognizable character.
They are not, in the strict sense, twin cities. They stand
some ninety kilometres apart. Their geographies differ. Their histories, though
broadly parallel, diverge in important particulars. Berat occupies a river
valley, its houses climbing the slopes on either side of the Osum River beneath
the looming mass of its medieval citadel. Gjirokastra sits upon a mountainside
in the Drinos Valley, its grey stone houses cascading downward from its own
formidable fortress like the folds of a petrified garment. Yet they share a
common architectural language — one rooted in the Ottoman tradition of the
Balkans but expressing itself with a distinctiveness that is peculiarly
Albanian.
UNESCO inscribed Gjirokastra upon the World Heritage List in 2005 and extended the inscription to include Berat in 2008, recognizing both cities as "rare examples of well-preserved Ottoman towns" and as embodiments of a vernacular architectural tradition of exceptional value. The joint inscription acknowledges what any attentive traveller would perceive: that these two cities, taken together, constitute a coherent and complementary expression of a single cultural phenomenon — the Ottoman stone town of the southern Balkans.
Berat — The City of a Thousand Windows
The Setting
Berat lies in central-southern Albania, at the point where
the Osum River emerges from a narrow gorge and enters a broader valley. The
city is dominated by its castle — the Kalaja — which occupies a rocky
promontory high above the river. Below the castle, the old town is divided into
three historic quarters: Mangalem on the south bank, Gorica on the north bank,
and the Kala quarter within the fortress walls themselves.
The epithet by which Berat is commonly known — the
"City of a Thousand Windows" — derives from the appearance of the
Mangalem quarter, where rows of Ottoman houses rise in tiers upon the hillside,
their large, closely spaced windows creating an effect of remarkable visual
density. When the afternoon sun strikes these facades, the windows seem to
multiply, reflecting and refracting the light until the entire hillside appears
to shimmer. It is an image that, once seen, is not easily forgotten.
Ancient Origins
The site of Berat has been inhabited since at least the
fourth century B.C. The ancient city of Antipatrea — named for the Macedonian
general Antipater — was founded during the Hellenistic period and occupied the
site of the present citadel. The city passed successively through the hands of
the Illyrians, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Bulgarians, the Serbs, the
Angevins, and the Ottomans — a sequence of conquests that reflects the
strategic importance of the site and the broader turbulence of Balkan history.
Archaeological remains from the Hellenistic and Roman
periods have been found within the citadel, including sections of fortification
walls, cisterns, and ceramic deposits. However, it is the Byzantine and Ottoman
periods that have left the most substantial architectural legacy.
.jpg "The Mangalem quarter of Berat")
The Mangalem
quarter of Berat showing the famous "thousand windows"The Citadel — Kalaja e Beratit
The citadel of Berat is among the largest inhabited
fortresses in the Balkans. Unlike many European fortresses, which stand as
ruins or museums, the Kala quarter of Berat remains a living community.
Families still reside within the fortress walls. Children attend school there.
The rhythms of daily life continue as they have for centuries, amid Byzantine
churches, Ottoman mosques, and cobbled streets worn smooth by generations of
feet.
The fortification walls date primarily to the thirteenth
century, though they incorporate earlier Byzantine foundations and later
Ottoman modifications. The circuit is extensive, enclosing an area of
approximately eight hectares, and the walls are punctuated by twenty-four
towers of varying size and construction.
Within the citadel stand several churches of considerable
historical and artistic importance:
The Church of the Holy Trinity — A
thirteenth-century Byzantine church with a cruciform plan and remnants of
exterior wall paintings. Its modest dimensions belie its architectural
significance.
The Church of St. Mary of Blachernae — Dating to
the thirteenth century, this church contains important frescoes attributed to
the workshop of the celebrated medieval painter Onufri. The apse paintings,
though damaged, display a sophistication of colour and composition that marks
them as works of genuine distinction.
The Church of the Evangelists — A smaller
Byzantine structure whose interior frescoes, though fragmentary, contribute to
the understanding of medieval painting traditions in the region.
The presence of these churches within an Ottoman fortress is
itself noteworthy. It speaks to the relative tolerance — or at least the
pragmatic accommodation — that characterized Ottoman rule in many parts of the
Balkans. Christian communities were permitted to worship, to maintain their
churches, and to preserve their religious traditions, albeit within the
framework of Ottoman political and legal supremacy.
The Church of the Holy Trinity
within the fortress wallsOnufri — The Master of Colour
No account of Berat's cultural heritage can be considered
complete without mention of Onufri — the sixteenth-century Albanian painter
whose works adorn churches throughout central and southern Albania and whose
name has become synonymous with the highest achievements of post-Byzantine art
in the region.
Onufri's identity remains partially obscured by the passage
of time. He is known primarily through his signed works and through the
testimony of later tradition. What is certain is that he was active during the
mid-sixteenth century, that he worked principally in the region of Berat and
Elbasan, and that his painting is distinguished by an extraordinary mastery of
colour — particularly a luminous shade of red, sometimes called "Onufri
red," whose precise formulation has never been satisfactorily explained.
His icons and wall paintings exhibit a fusion of Byzantine
iconographic convention with a naturalism and emotional expressiveness that
anticipate, in certain respects, the developments of Western Renaissance
painting. Whether Onufri was directly influenced by Italian models — Albania's
proximity to Italy and the extensive trade connections between the two coasts
make such influence plausible — or whether his innovations were largely
independent remains a matter of scholarly debate.
The Onufri Museum, housed in the Church of the Dormition of
the Virgin Mary within the Berat citadel, contains a significant collection of
icons attributed to Onufri and his son Nikolla, and constitutes one of the most
important repositories of post-Byzantine painting in southeastern Europe.
An icon by
Onufri displayed in the Onufri MuseumThe Quarters Below — Mangalem and Gorica
Below the citadel, the quarters of Mangalem and Gorica
preserve an exceptionally intact ensemble of Ottoman domestic architecture. The
houses of these quarters follow a typology common to the Ottoman Balkans but
expressed at Berat with particular clarity and consistency.
The typical Berat house is constructed of stone on the lower
storeys and timber-framed plaster on the upper. The ground floor, often
partially subterranean, served for storage and sometimes for the keeping of
animals. The upper floors — one, two, or occasionally three — contained the
living quarters. The principal feature of these upper floors is the
proliferation of windows. Large, closely spaced, and often arched or shuttered,
these windows served the dual purpose of admitting light and air and providing views
over the valley and the river.
The interiors of the more prosperous houses featured carved
wooden ceilings, built-in cupboards and niches, and a central hearth. The rooms
were arranged around a central hall — the hajat — which
functioned as a transitional space between the private domestic realm and the
semi-public world of the street. Courtyards, enclosed by high stone walls,
provided outdoor space for domestic activities while maintaining the privacy
that Ottoman social convention required.
Traditional
Ottoman house interior in Berat showing carved wooden ceiling
Gjirokastra — The City of Stone
The Setting
If Berat is the city of a thousand windows, Gjirokastra is,
quite simply, the city of stone. The epithet is not metaphorical. Everything in
Gjirokastra is stone. The houses are stone. The streets are stone. The roofs
are stone — great slabs of grey slate laid in overlapping courses that give the
city, when seen from a distance, the appearance of an immense geological
formation rather than a human settlement.
Gjirokastra lies in the Drinos Valley, in the mountainous
interior of southern Albania, approximately thirty-five kilometres from the
Greek border. The city is built upon the western slope of a steep ridge,
dominated by the massive fortress that crowns its summit. The old town descends
from the fortress in a series of narrow, winding streets and stepped passages,
the stone houses clinging to the hillside at seemingly impossible angles.
The effect is austere and imposing. There is nothing soft about Gjirokastra. The stone is grey. The mountains are stark. The winters are cold. Yet the city possesses a severe beauty that is entirely its own — a beauty born not of ornament or embellishment but of the honest and uncompromising use of a single, dominant material.
The Fortress — Kalaja e Gjirokastrës
The fortress of Gjirokastra is one of the largest in the
Balkans, covering an area of approximately 18,000 square metres at the summit
of the ridge. Its origins are uncertain — some scholars trace the earliest
fortifications to the third or fourth century A.D. — but the visible remains
date primarily to the twelfth century, with substantial additions and
modifications made during the Ottoman period, particularly in the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries.
The fortress is entered through a long, vaulted passage that
ascends steeply through the thickness of the outer walls — an experience that
is, in itself, deeply evocative. Within, the visitor encounters a complex of
buildings, courtyards, cisterns, and defensive works of considerable extent and
variety.
During the Second World War, the fortress was used as a
prison by both the Italian and German occupying forces. Under the communist
regime of Enver Hoxha — himself a native of Gjirokastra — it continued to serve
as a place of detention for political prisoners. The fortress now houses two
museums:
The Arms Museum — Containing weapons and
military equipment from various periods, with a particular focus on the
Albanian resistance during the Second World War. An American military aircraft,
forced down over Albania during the Cold War, is displayed in the courtyard —
an incongruous but arresting sight.
The Ethnographic Museum — Ostensibly dedicated
to local folk culture, this museum is housed in the building that tradition
identifies as the birthplace of Enver Hoxha. The association is controversial,
and the museum's interpretation of this connection has evolved considerably
since the fall of communism.
The massive
fortress of Gjirokastra
The vaulted entrance passage to the
fortressThe Tower Houses — Kulla
The most distinctive architectural feature of Gjirokastra is
the kulla — the fortified tower house that represents the
highest development of the Ottoman stone-building tradition in Albania.
The kulla of Gjirokastra is typically a tall, narrow
structure of three or four storeys, built entirely of dressed stone. The ground
floor, with its thick walls and narrow openings, served as a defensive refuge
and storage area. The first floor contained service rooms and sometimes a
cistern for water storage. The second and third floors comprised the living
quarters, with larger windows, fireplaces, and the carved wooden interiors
characteristic of Ottoman domestic architecture.
The defensive character of these houses is unmistakable.
Their walls are thick. Their windows, on the lower storeys, are few and narrow.
Many incorporate features — loopholes, projecting stone brackets for the
discharge of boiling water or oil, reinforced doors — that speak of a society
in which private violence and blood feud were not merely theoretical
possibilities but facts of daily life.
Several notable tower houses have been preserved and opened
to the public:
|
House |
Period |
Notable Features |
|
Zekate House |
Early 19th century |
Twin towers, elaborate interior, panoramic views |
|
Skenduli House |
18th century |
Nine rooms, carved ceilings, traditional furnishings |
|
Babameto House |
19th century |
Recently restored, fine woodwork |
|
Angonati House |
18th century |
Typical kulla form, well-preserved exterior |
The Zekate House, in particular, is an extraordinary
monument. Built in the early nineteenth century by the prominent Zekate family,
it comprises twin towers connected by a central hall, with an interior of
remarkable elaboration. The carved wooden ceilings, the painted walls, the
built-in cupboards and fountain niches — all attest to a domestic culture that,
beneath its forbidding stone exterior, cultivated refinement and comfort.
The magnificent
Zekate House with its twin towers
The Bazaar
The old bazaar of Gjirokastra, located on the lower slopes
of the ridge between the fortress and the modern town, preserves the
characteristic form of the Ottoman commercial quarter. The bazaar comprises a
series of narrow streets lined with small shops — originally the workshops of
craftsmen and artisans — arranged around a central marketplace.
The bazaar suffered significant damage during the Second
World War and was partially rebuilt during the communist period. Its
restoration and revitalization remain ongoing. Some shops have been converted
into cafés and tourist establishments. Others continue to function as
workshops, producing copperware, woodcarving, and textiles in traditions that,
while diminished, have not entirely disappeared.
The old bazaar
quarter of GjirokastraTwo Cities, One Heritage
The joint inscription of Berat and Gjirokastra acknowledges
a shared architectural tradition while recognizing the distinctive character of
each city. Both represent the Ottoman stone-building culture of the southern
Balkans. Both preserve exceptional ensembles of domestic, religious, and
military architecture spanning several centuries. Both demonstrate the
interaction — sometimes harmonious, sometimes tense — between Christian and
Muslim communities within a single urban framework.
Yet they differ in important respects:
|
Aspect |
Berat |
Gjirokastra |
|
Setting |
River valley |
Mountain slope |
|
Dominant Material |
Stone and timber |
Almost entirely stone |
|
Visual Character |
Open, luminous, "thousand windows" |
Austere, grey, fortress-like |
|
Religious Heritage |
Strong Byzantine Christian presence |
More predominantly Ottoman Muslim |
|
Distinctive Feature |
Onufri's paintings |
Tower houses (kulla) |
|
Epithet |
City of a Thousand Windows |
City of Stone |
|
Atmosphere |
Gentle, picturesque |
Severe, imposing |
These differences are complementary rather than
contradictory. Together, the two cities present a more complete picture of the
Ottoman Balkan urban tradition than either could offer alone.
V. The Ottoman Legacy — A Question of Perspective
The Ottoman heritage of the Balkans has long been a subject
of contention — politically, culturally, and historiographically. For the
nationalist movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Ottoman rule
was, almost by definition, a period of subjugation and cultural stagnation, to
be commemorated primarily in terms of resistance and liberation. The
architectural legacy of the Ottoman period was, in many Balkan countries,
neglected, disfigured, or actively destroyed in the decades following independence.
Albania's relationship with its Ottoman past is complicated
further by the particular circumstances of the communist period. Under Hoxha's
regime, religion was banned entirely — Albania declared itself, in 1967, the
world's first atheist state — and mosques, churches, and tekkes (Sufi lodges)
were closed, repurposed, or demolished across the country. The architectural
heritage of both the Ottoman and the Byzantine periods suffered grievously.
The inscription of Berat and Gjirokastra upon the World
Heritage List represents, among other things, a reassessment of this heritage —
a recognition that the Ottoman centuries produced, in these Albanian towns, an
architecture of genuine distinction and that this architecture constitutes a
valuable component of European cultural heritage, worthy of preservation and
study regardless of the political and ideological associations it may carry.
Threats and Conservation
|
Threat |
Severity |
Details |
|
Structural deterioration |
🔴 High |
Many historic houses are in poor repair |
|
Abandonment |
🔴 High |
Population decline in old quarters |
|
Inappropriate restoration |
🟡 Moderate |
Use of modern materials inconsistent with traditional
methods |
|
Unregulated development |
🔴 High |
New construction in buffer zones |
|
Earthquake risk |
🟡 Moderate |
Albania is seismically active |
|
Tourism pressure |
🟡 Moderate |
Growing but still manageable visitor numbers |
|
Lack of maintenance funds |
🔴 High |
Property owners often unable to afford proper conservation |
The 2019 earthquake that struck Albania — with its epicentre
near Durrës, some distance to the north — caused limited but notable damage to
historic structures in Berat. The event served as a reminder of the seismic
vulnerability of Albania's built heritage and of the need for
earthquake-resistant conservation techniques.
A particular challenge facing both cities is the tension
between preservation and habitation. The historic quarters of Berat and
Gjirokastra are not museum exhibits. They are — or should be — living
communities. Yet the demands of modern life sit uneasily within structures
designed for a very different mode of existence. Plumbing, electricity,
heating, vehicular access — all present problems when introduced into narrow
streets and thick-walled stone houses built in the eighteenth or nineteenth
century.
The depopulation of the old quarters, as younger residents
move to more modern accommodations in the lower town or emigrate abroad, poses
an additional threat. An uninhabited house deteriorates rapidly. Roofs leak.
Walls crack. Wooden elements rot. Without sustained investment — both public
and private — in the maintenance and adaptive reuse of these historic
structures, the architectural fabric of both cities will continue to degrade.
VII. Reflection — The Eloquence of Vernacular
There is a tendency, in the study of architectural history,
to privilege the monumental — the cathedral, the palace, the fortress — at the
expense of the vernacular. We celebrate the architect but overlook the mason.
We admire the commission of the sultan but neglect the house of the merchant.
Berat and Gjirokastra remind us that the vernacular, too,
possesses eloquence. The anonymous stone houses of these Albanian towns, built
by craftsmen whose names are lost to history, embody a tradition of design and
construction as sophisticated, in its way, as any product of the formal
architectural canon. The proportions are harmonious. The relationship between
structure and site is sensitive. The use of materials is honest and expressive.
The accommodation of human needs — privacy, security, comfort, light — is
achieved with an economy and elegance that many a self-conscious architect
might envy.
These are not primitive buildings. They are the mature
expressions of a building culture refined over centuries. And their
preservation matters — not merely as an act of cultural piety, but as a
reminder that the art of building well is not the exclusive province of the
famous and the powerful.
Stone endures. So, if we are attentive, does the knowledge
of how to use it.
🧳 Visitor's Guide
|
Detail |
Berat |
Gjirokastra |
|
Nearest Airport |
Tirana (120 km) |
Tirana (230 km) / Corfu (100 km) |
|
Best Time |
April–October |
April–October |
|
Must-See |
Citadel, Onufri Museum, Mangalem Quarter |
Fortress, Zekate House, Bazaar |
|
Time Needed |
1-2 days |
1-2 days |
|
Combined Visit |
Highly recommended — drive between both cities (~2.5
hours) |
|
|
Local Food |
River trout, local wine, byrek |
Roast lamb, qifqi (rice balls), local
cheese |
|
Accommodation |
Restored Ottoman guesthouses available in both cities |
|
|
Currency |
Albanian Lek (ALL) |
📚 Sources & Further
Reading
- UNESCO
World Heritage Centre — Berat
and Gjirokastra
- Riza,
Emin. Qyteti-Muze i Gjirokastrës (The Museum City of
Gjirokastra) (1981)
- Thomo,
Pirro. Berat: Historia dhe Arkitektura (2002)
- Gilkes,
Oliver. Albania: An Archaeological Guide (2013)
- Meksi,
Aleksandër. Arkitektura e Banesave Popullore Shqiptare (Albanian
Vernacular Architecture) (1991)
- Elsie,
Robert. Historical Dictionary of Albania (2010)
- ICOMOS
Evaluation Report — Gjirokastra (2005) and Berat Extension (2008)
0 Comments