Bashtovë Castle

Exterior walls with North Tower

The fortress Bashtova (Albanian Kalaja e Bashtovës ) is the ruin of a castle in central Albania south of Kavaja.

Location and description

The fort stands a few hundred meters from the northern bank on flat ground at the mouth level of Shkumbin in a wide bend in the river. Up the coast of the Adriatic Sea, there are less than four kilometers. The city is located about 20 kilometers north Kavaja. South of the river extends the great Myzeqe level.

The plant is almost rectangular; to the northwest it tapers slightly as the northeast wall in the middle has a slight kink. The nine-meter- high walls include a 90 to 60 meter wide space which is empty. In the north and east corner are twelve feet high, round towers. In the other two corners and in the middle of the walls were rectangular towers, but they are no longer poor to receive. There were three entrances, one in the north- west wall was the main access. Loopholes are found in the battlements, but also below.

The walls are still the majority, and are quite well preserved. Even the battlements are still often seen. Only a few small pieces to the south and west corners are completely absent. The exterior walls are partly covered by ivy, bushes and trees.

History

The fort could not be dated exactly to this day. Gjerak Karaiskaj who examined the plant at the beginning of the 1970s, she dated in the second half of the 15th century, built by the Venetians. Alain Ducellier believes that it was built during the Justinian Dynasty ( 6th century ). Besides inscriptions in Arabic script, there are also worked stones in Byzantine and antique styles.

The coast and the river were probably less far away from the fortress, with the underflow and probably also a storehouse was controlled at the edification. Grain was in the Middle Ages here in a big way grown and shipped out.

The fortress was first mentioned in writing in a map of 1521 as Pashtove. Then next to the entrance a mosque is depicted. It is believed that the Bashtova in the family chronicle of Muzaka (16th century) called Basti place is.

Evliya Çelebi (17th century) spoke of the destruction of the walls due to flooding of the Shkumbin. The western area of ​​the plant comes from a second phase of construction in the 18th century. Çelebi also wrote that the fort was built by the Venetians, when the Ottomans conquered by Elbasan from northern Albania.

The Ottomans used the fortress to protect the trade on the coast. 1780 Bashtova was declared a free port.