Forsaken Albania

Tepelena 1940,1945. The history of this township is as great as its current deterioration is sad. Beyond all the stories acknowledged as part of the history of this township, is the episode that gave it eternal recognition, the story of the Pascha who took the name of this town for his family name. Ali, from Be誳ti, on the far side of the River Vjosa, took Tepelena in 1789 and kept it until he died. First of all he repaired the existing walls of the castle, years later he built new surrounding walls and pallisades, which stand to this day. Within these walls, he built up a large estate and residence for himself, at which he received personalities like Lord Byron in 1809. This English Lord was so impressed by the castle and estate, that he mentions them in his work Childe Harold’s Pilgramage. This was the peak the castle reached and from where the decline began. As the years went by the Castle was abandoned by the Turkish garrisons and the estate was ransacked and left to fall into ruin. In the first photograph, which dates back to 1940, there is a view of the township taken from the hills on the opposite side of the valley, on the side of the River Vjosa. The castle walls can be clearly seen, although crumbling in some places, while only the foundations of the residency of Ali Pascha remain on the estate(1).
Between the walls of the castle and the river, ran an old road linking Gjirokastra to the rest of the country. Today, the main road runs a little higher above the feet of the castle. Sunken beneath the feet of the castle walls is the old road of Gjirokastra (2) while on the banks of the river are the ruins of the ancient bridge which spanned the River Vjosa (3). This bridge dates back to the Second Century, and although it has been re-constructed five times over the Centuries, it has failed to survive, except for its foundations and the feet of the bridge. In the square, in front of the castle (4) stands a statue of Ali Pascha. In the second photo, taken at the same time as the first one, you can see the big tower of the castle, facing the fields, and for this reason it was the strongest. A few slogans have been written on its walls in Italian, “Long live the King,” (Viktor Emanuel II) and “Il Duce, Il Duce”. On the other side of the tower is a quotation by Mussolini which in a slightly clumsy Albania could be translated as, “To Believe, To Obey, “To Fight.”
The last photograph dates back to 1945, only four years later from the year the previous photos were shot. 1945, and a group of partisans pose for their photograph in front of the same tower. The slogans in Italian still remain, but they were soon covered by coats of whitewash.