Lëkurësi Fortress

Lëkurësi Castle (Albanian: Kalaja e Lëkurësit) is a ruined Ottoman Turkish castle near Sarandë, southern Albania. The castle is on a strategic hill point overlooking the town of Sarandë, southeast of the town centre. From here one can control the whole town as well as the islands of Ksamil.

The Lëkurësi castle is located around 1 km southeast of Saranda. It is almost square in shape, and has two round towers at opposite corners, where its loopholes are also found. The best preserved parts of the castle are its southern and eastern sides. The castle offers control over Saranda, Butrint and the Straits of Corfu.

Lëkurësi Castle was built in 1537 by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire. It was built in order to defend against the Venetians. It held a garrison of 220 soldiers as well. The region traditionally belonged to the southern part of the region of Himara. At the end of the 18th century, the castle was attacked by Ali Pasha of Ioannina and the surrounding habitation raided.

On the western slope of the hill there was a village named Lëkurës until the 19th century. It seems that it had a larger population than Saranda.

Between 28 February and 4 March 1878 the castle and the nearby lands were the sight of an Albanian-Greek conflict when Greek rebels led by Georgios Stephanou engaged with Albanian locals in the village of Lëkurës, Saranda, Karalibej and Gjashtë. The fighting culminated in a siege of the castle where the retreating Greeks had taken refuge. The siege ended in a victory for the Albanians, ending the Greek revolt.

Text adapted from “Lëkurësi Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lëkurësi Fortress ranks #3,082 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #15 of the 27 mapped in Albania. Founded 1537, it is older than 42% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 755 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 2,815 times in the last 60 days, more than 74% of the atlas. 3 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Ioannina, 74 km away. See how Albania compares in the castle statistics.

View on the interactive castle map →

Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗