Landmarks & History
The Old Town & Zekate House
Gjirokastër · South Inland
QUICK INFORMATION
- CATEGORY
- Landmarks & History
- COUNTRY
- Albania
- REGION
- Gjirokastër · South Inland
- DURATION
- 1–2 days
ABOUT THIS ATTRACTION
Gjirokastër’s old town is the reason UNESCO came: a complete Ottoman provincial city of stone — cobbled lanes climbing between slate-roofed tower houses, the 17th-century bazaar still trading, mosques beside churches, and the great kule mansions of the landowning families open as furnished museums. Zekate House (1811, three stories, frescoed ceilings and the town’s best terrace-view) is the finest; the Ethnographic museum in Palorto occupies the house where Enver Hoxha was born, its rooms a snapshot of wealthy Ottoman-Albanian life. Every lane is stone, every roof slate, every climb rewarded.
HISTORY & BACKGROUND
The story behind it
The town’s kule tower houses rose with the 18th–19th-century landowning families — fortified homes whose lower floors were storage and refuge and whose upper rooms showed fresco, carved wood and imported stoves. The bazaar (rebuilt 1814 after a fire) was the crafts and silk market of the sanjak. Zekate was built 1811 for the Beqiraj family at Ali Pasha’s order — its reception rooms hosted the town’s notable gatherings; Hoxha’s birthplace (1911–1912) replaced an older family house and became a Communist pilgrimage site, now a general ethnographic museum. UNESCO inscribed the Museum-City in 2005.
WHAT TO SEE
What to see here
Zekate House’s reception rooms and its terrace over the roofs.
The cobbled bazaar lanes and their craft shops.
The Ethnographic museum in Palorto — Ottoman-Albanian domestic life.
GOOD TO KNOW
Facts & Curiosities
UNESCO World Heritage “Museum-City of Gjirokastra” since 2005 — criteria (iii) and (iv).
Zekate House (1811) — three storeys, frescoed reception rooms, the finest of the kule mansions.
The bazaar, rebuilt 1814, still trades in stone lanes unchanged since Ottoman days.
The Ethnographic museum occupies Enver Hoxha’s birthplace — the town that gave Communism its dictator.
MAP & LOCATION
The Old Town & Zekate House
The Old Town & Zekate House, Gjirokastër, South Inland, Albania
40.0760, 20.1390
MORE ATTRACTIONS
More to see in Gjirokastër
THINGS TO DO
Things to do nearby
Walk the castle walls at golden hour and stand beside the B-24 wreck.
02Tour the Zekate tower house — frescoed Ottoman rooms and the best terrace in town.
03Browse the 1814 bazaar’s stone lanes and drink coffee in an Ottoman garden.
04Eat a folk-music dinner of lamb under sac at Tradita — the iso-polyphony is UNESCO-listed.
05Drive the Drino valley to the Benja thermal springs or the Libohovë lime avenue.
FOOD & DRINK
Where to eat nearby
Kompleksi Kordho — old-town cooking in a stone courtyard: lamb under sac, fërgesë, home wine.
Restorant Tradita — the folk-table institution, live music nights, honey and raki from the Drino villages.
Odria Hotel terrace — the old town’s best view table at sunset.
Bahçe cafe — Ottoman-garden coffee and sweets above the bazaar lanes.
HOTELS & STAYS
Where to stay nearby
Hotel Kalemi — restored stone houses in the old quarter, the town’s classic stay.
Cajupi Hotel — the central grand hotel of the Communist era, still the practical choice.
Guesthouse Pashko — a family kule with breakfast on the terrace over the roofs.
Argjiro Castle Guesthouse — rooms under the fortress walls with valley views.
NEARBY DESTINATIONS
Continue the journey
INTERESTS
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PART OF
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