Historic Centres of Berat and Gjirokastra, World Heritage Site in Albania

Berat and Gjirokastra in central and southern Albania, respectively, are cities with townscapes built during the Ottoman Empire. And people continue to live in traditional houses today, which is also appreciated for its continuity.

Here, a World Heritage enthusiast explains in simple terms why the hHistoric Centres of Berat and Gjirokastra are World Heritage sites. Read this and you will definitely learn more about Berat and Gjirokastra!

What are the Historic Centres of Berat and Gjirokastra?

Berat

Located in central Albania, Berat now has houses built in the 13th century, but its origins date back to the 4th century BC. On the town’s high ground is a symbolic castle.

From the 13th century, a Byzantine church was built, and when the Ottoman Empire took over in the 15th century, a mosque and other buildings were built in the town. Over the centuries, Berat has become a mix of different religions and cultures, and the town has retained the vestiges of a prosperous trading town to the present day.

Gjirokastra

Gjirokastra, on the Drinos River in southern Albania, is a town of lovely two-story houses built during the Ottoman Empire. The houses stand side by side on sloping terraces and are fitted with overhanging turrets, a characteristic of Balkan mansions.The interiors are typical of Ottoman mansions, with parlor and living rooms on the first floor and bedrooms on the second floor. These houses were built mainly in the 17th century, and it is recorded that there were as many as 200 mansions within the city walls.

The town also still has a fortress and bazaar built in the 13th century and a mosque built in the 18th century, so much so that it was initially registered as a “museum city” when it was first registered.

For what reasons are the Historic Centres of Berat and Gjirokastra on the World Heritage List?

Berat and Gjirokastra were evaluated for the following

Registration Criteria (iii)
Berat and Gjirokastra are the only places where the urban structure of the Balkan Peninsula can be seen, and that the lifestyle of the time still remains today.

Registration Criteria (iv)
It means that the houses in Gjirokastra and Berat show the architectural style of the Ottoman Empire, which has continued since the Middle Ages.

World Heritage Mania Conclusions and Comments

Zirokastra and Berat were developed during the medieval and Ottoman periods, and are recognized for the fact that they still retain the townscape of those times.

Incidentally, such Ottoman-era lodging town heritage sites are registered in Turkey as Safranbolu and Bursa, but there are some minor differences, such as the fact that they are unified with red roofs, while this one has many gray roofs.Well, both are very similar, so it’s just a matter of finding a mistake….

*The contents here are considerations derived through research by World Heritage enthusiasts.As for the data, interpretation differs depending on the medium.