Gjirokastra celebrates six years under UNESCO

TIRANA, July 14 – The southern town of Gjirokastra celebrated this week its sixth anniversary as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Heritage specialists underlined progress made during the past six years but said a lot remains to be done with illegal constructions and extensions in the characteristic houses. Olsi Lafe, a director at the Ministry of Culture, says a plan is being prepared by the Gjirokastra local government institutions and the Institute of Monuments of Culture to demolish around 300 illegal constructions in the Gjirokastra area. The historic town of Gjirokastra, in the Drinos river valley in southern Albania, is a rare example of a well-preserved Ottoman town, built by farmers of large estate. The 13th-century citadel provides the focal point of the town with its typical tower houses (Turkish kulle). Characteristic of the Balkan region, Gjirokastra contains a series of outstanding examples of kulle, a type of building which crystallized in the 17th century. But Gjirokastra also features some more elaborate examples from the early 19th century. The kulle has a tall basement, a first floor for use in the cold season, and a second floor for the warm season. Interiors feature rich decorative details and painted floral patterns, particularly in the zones reserved for the reception of visitors. The town also retains a bazaar, an 18th-century mosque and two churches of the same period. Both Gjirokastra and the other southern town of Berat are inscribed as UNSECO World Heritage sites as rare examples of an architectural character typical of the Ottoman period.