Castle

Rozafa Castle, Shkodra

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The castle at Rozafa is located southeast of Shkodra. The castle is 130 meters above sea level and stands on a rocky hill at the city's entrance. It is surrounded by the Buna and Drini rivers, and has an area of about 9 ha.  It is belived to have been built since ancient times, resisting centuries and standing proudly to this day. 

According to legend, three brothers began building a fort, but it was cursed by the gods, who regularly destroyed their hard work. The youngest spouse of the house, Rozafa, was unfairly chosen as the sacrifice that the gods wanted in order for the castle's walls to remain intact. Rozafa asked to have part of her body remain outside the wall so she could feed her child after being walled up alive. At the castle's entryway, a sculpture of Rozafa's face is carved inside the wall.

There are three main courtyards within the walls of the castle:

  • After the entrance to the barbican, there is the first courtyard, where the tract of the Illyrian wall of the IV century BC is found, as the oldest evidence of the castle. Also along the first courtyard are the medieval ruins of cisterns, Balshai towers or Venetian dwellings.
  • In the second courtyard, near the surrounding walls in the northwest of the castle, there are the ruins of an object that deserves special attention, the mosque of Sultan Mehmet Fatihu (XVI - XIX centuries). The ruins of the mosque were finally abandoned in 1865. In the same courtyard are the ruins of the Ottoman prison, the barracks and the ammunition depot dating back to the 16th - 17th centuries, as well as the vaulted quadrangular deposits.
  • The castle ends in the third courtyard, where a three-story building from the Venetian era stands out, known as the "Capitaneria", which served as the residence of the Venetian ruler. Today, this building houses the Shkodra Castle Museum, which talks about the 4,000-year history of the castle as well as the most important medieval stages and families of the city of Shkodra.

Throughout the castle there are wonderful views of Lake Shkodra, of the many surrounding rivers and mountains, and to the southwest of it in the third courtyard, the meeting point of the rivers Drin, Kir and Buna can be seen as a spectacle as they weave together. Rozafa is the origin of an ancient and legendary city. Everything starts with a legend, everything continues as in the legend.

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Address

Rozafa Castle, Rruga e Kalasë, 10 Korriku

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