Site of Witness and Memory

Rozafa Castle (Kalaja e Rozafës) crowns a hill about 130 m above sea level at the entrance to Shkodër. Of Illyrian origin, it was enlarged by the Romans, Byzantines, Venetians and Ottomans, and its name recalls the legend of Rozafa, walled up alive in its masonry. A small museum inside covers the castle’s past.

The Marubi National Museum of Photography opened on 9 May 2016 on Rruga Kolë Idromeno to house the archive of three generations of Marubi photographers: Pietro, an Italian who set up a studio in Shkodër in the 19th century, then Kel and Gegë. It holds about half a million negatives, many of them glass plates.

Mes Bridge (Ura e Mesit) spans the Kir River at the village of Mes, north-east of Shkodër. Built in stone under the Bushati pashas around 1768–1770 to link mountain villages with the city and its trade, it is 108 m long and 3.4 m wide and rests on 13 arches of different sizes.

Xhamia e Plumbit (the Lead Mosque) was built in 1773–1774 by Mehmet Pasha Bushati and takes its name from domes once covered in lead. It stands near Shkodër’s southern entrance and is a working mosque, so visit respectfully.

Founded in 1947, Shkodër’s Historical Museum occupies the Oso Kuka house, a 19th-century townhouse in the city’s traditional style. Archaeological, ethnographic and art collections trace local life, and the old rooms are part of the visit.

Kulla e Inglizit or Sahati i Inglizit (the Englishman’s Tower) was raised in the late 19th century by British aristocrat Lord Alfred Paget as part of his castle-style home. Its three-faced clock kept public time; under communism it housed the city museum.