Lezhë Castle

Lezhë Castle, locally known as Kalaja e Lezhës, lies in the town of the same name, in the county of Lezhë in Albania.

Lezhë Castle is situated on a hill of some 180 meters, on the left bank of the Drin River. It was preceded by the 4th-3rd century B.C. acropolis of the ancient Illyrian city of Lissos. On the ruins of that acropolis, the Byzantine Empire built a castle in the 8th/9th century. It was mentioned in the early 12th century as "Elissonit" by the Byzantine princess-historian Anna Komnene in her book, The Alexiad.

During the unraveling of the Byzantine Empire in the 14th century, local aristocratic families engaged in a power struggle, and the castle and its town changed hands several times between them. To counter Ottoman expansion, the castle was placed under Venetian control by the Dukagjini family in 1393. The Venetians called it Alessio Castle and reconstructed it in the first part of the next century.

In 1444, Lezhë Castle was the site where the League of Lezhë was created by the Albanian national hero Skanderbeg to counter the Ottoman threat. The Ottomans finally took the castle in 1478. Under the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, the castle was again reconstructed in 1521.

The castle lost its strategic importance to the Ottomans after an earthquake in 1729 damaged it, and it was gradually abandoned thereafter. The last inhabitants of the castle, a garrison of soldiers, left in 1913. The castle ruin was seriously damaged during the 1979 Montenegro earthquake.

Lezhë Castle is accessible for a small fee during working hours. A great castle ruin with splendid views over the Drin river, the Lezhë plain, and the Adriatic coast.

Gallery