Gjirokastër County
Gjirokastër
Gjirokastër is a stone-built Ottoman city shaped by powerful landowners, a fortress controlling the Drino valley, steep merchant streets and tower houses designed for status as much as defense. Its later history adds nationalism, dictatorship and Cold War infrastructure, making the city far more than a preserved Ottoman backdrop.
Stories in Gjirokastër
- Gjirokastër Castle — Controlling the Drino Valley
- The Bazaar — Commerce on a Difficult Slope
- Bazaar Mosque — A Survivor of the Atheist State
- Skënduli House — How an Ottoman Elite Household Worked
- Zekate House — Architecture as a Statement of Rank
- Ethnographic Museum — Remembering Hoxha Without Preserving His House
- Cold War Tunnel — Fear Engineered Underground
- Ali Pasha Aqueduct — The Infrastructure Behind the Fortress