Rozafa Castle

Rozafa Castle
Shkodër, in northwestern Albania
Fatih Sultan Mehmet Mosque within Rozafa castle
Coordinates	42°02′47″N 19°29′37″E / 42.0465°N 19.4935°E / 42.0465; 19.4935
Site information
Owner	Albania
Controlled by	Illyrian tribes Roman Empire  Byzantine Empire Duklja Serbian Grand Principality  Kingdom of Serbia  Serbian Empire Zeta  Republic of Venice  Ottoman Empire  Kingdom of Montenegro Great Powers  Albania
Open to the public	Yes
Site history
Materials	Limestone, brick

Rozafa castle (Albanian: Kalaja e Rozafës) is a castle near the city of Shkodër, in northwestern Albania. It rises imposingly on a rocky hill, 130 metres (430 ft) above sea level, surrounded by the Bojana and Drin rivers. Shkodër is the seat of Shkodër County, and is one of Albania's oldest and most historic towns, as well as an important cultural and economic centre.

Due to its strategic location, the hill has been settled since antiquity. It was an Illyrian stronghold until it was captured by the Romans in 167 BC. The 19th-century German author and explorer Johann Georg von Hahn suggested that the ancient and medieval city of Shkodër was located immediately south of the Rozafa hill, between the hill and the confluence of Buna and Drin. The fortifications, as they have been preserved to date, are mostly of Venetian origin. The castle has been the site of several famous sieges, including the siege of Shkodra by the Ottomans in 1478 and the siege of Shkodra by the Montenegrins in 1912. The castle and its surroundings form an Archaeological Park of Albania.

Minaret of the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Mosque

Rozafa castle in 1863

Church of the Holy Mother of God

Ruins of the castle