TIRANA, June 24 – The southwestern UNESCO town of Berat has announced it will hold the second edition of its multicultural festival after last year’s successful inaugural event.
Organizers have not announced the calendar of events yet but say the festival scheduled to be held from July 23 to 25 will offer a wide range of events including performances from the city band, exhibitions of young and veteran painters, contemporary art video projections in the ancient city’s characteristic cobbled neighborhoods, concerts, movie screenings, handicraft and agri-business trade fairs, cultural heritage conferences and other events involving the local Roma and Egyptian communities.
In last year’s inaugural edition, the cultural, ethnographic and architectural heritage of Berat, known as “the city of 1,001 windows” were showcased for three days in late August in the first multicultural festival promoting this popular international destination which since 2008 has been a UNESCO World Heritage site.
“The festival is an event targeting to further promote Berat and attract more tourists and art lovers,” organizers said.
Alba Çela, a native of Berat, described the festival in an article published on Tirana Times as “an attempt to mix and stir history with modernity through art and entertainment.
“The Berat Multicultural Festival 2014 combined the natural attraction of the city with the glamor of music, painting, video art and with the sweet charm of social activities,” she wrote.
Since 2008, Berat has been inscribed as a rare example of an architectural character typical of the Ottoman period. Located in southwestern Albania, Berat bears witness to the coexistence of various religious and cultural communities down the centuries. It features a castle, locally known as the Kala, most of which was built in the 13th century, although its origins date back to the 4th century BC. The citadel area numbers many Byzantine churches, mainly from the 13th century, as well as several mosques built under the Ottoman era which began in 1417.
Berat bears witness to a town which was fortified but open, and was over a long period inhabited by craftsmen and merchants. Its urban centre reflects a vernacular housing tradition of the Balkans, examples of which date mainly from the late 18th and the 19th centuries. This tradition has been adapted to suit the town’s life styles, with tiered houses on the slopes, which are predominantly horizontal in layout, and make abundant use of the entering daylight, says UNESCO in its description of Berat.
