Vivari Channel

The Vivar Canal is a waterway in the far south of Albania. It connects the Lake of Butrint, a salt -water lagoon, with the Ionian Sea. There is a natural body of water that extends from the Bronze Age has (2000-1500 BC) developed until the Middle Ages to its present form. Had initially formed at the end of the last ice age by the rising sea a large bay with a wide access to the sea silted up the southern part completely and also the connection to the sea was reduced to the narrow channel.

The approximately 2.5 km long and 100 meter wide channel extends approximately in an east -west direction. The output from the lake is a small peninsula on which the ruins of the ancient city of Butrint are. The estuary is on the road from Corfu, the narrow strait that separates the Greek island from the mainland. The southern shore of the East and the North Shore are part of the Butrint National Park. Salt water marshes and wet meadows around the canal are an important bird sanctuary.

The channel can only be crossed with trains running at Butrint ferry. It connects the county town of Saranda in the north with the few places Albanian south of the canal, including Konispol, where there is a border crossing with Greece.

From ancient times to the early 19th century, the Vivar channel was of strategic importance. On the one hand he made on the south side of the natural protection Butrints, on the other hand he allowed the entry of vessels into the lake, where the sheltered harbor of the ancient city had been created. The channel was easily disable enemy ships. In the 5th century BC had the Corfiots Butrint and the Vivar Channel under their control. In the Hellenistic period the Buthroten were able to consolidate their autonomy and dominate the harbor itself. Under the Roman rule the times were peaceful and the harbor was used only for civilian purposes. In the Augustan period an aqueduct was built to cross the channel and from the south water led to the city. On the south bank of the canal a large villa rustica was built. In the Middle Ages the Byzantines fortified the entrance again. Since the 11th century the area between the Normans, Byzantines, local rulers and the Republic of Venice was often contested. On the south bank of the canal was a small fort, built later on the north bank of the Venetians still a watchtower. In 1800, Ali Pasha Tepelenë built yet another fort