Prizren Fortress castl visit (Kalaja e Prizrenit) Kosovo vacations

Prizren fortress Kosovo

Life in Prizren Fortress began in the Late Bronze age and the fortress was built around 1500 years ago. The fortress has massive walls and various residential quarters belonging to later stages such as the Middle Ages and Ottoman times. It's well worth making the steep 15-minute hike up from Prizren's old town.

The castl of Prizren

The fortress of Prizren (Albanian Kalaja e Prizrenit) is a medieval castle in Prizren in southern Kosovo. It was built on a hill above the city, under which Prizren gradually developed into a large city. The fortress was declared a Cultural Monument of Special Importance in 1948. Layers of prehistoric, Roman and late antiquity have been preserved under its walls.

Through systematic research, conservation and restoration work, it will be transformed into an open archaeological museum and an important destination point for cultural tourism of Prizren and Kosovo in general. The fortress hill of the fortress of Prizren, east of the old town, has long been a strategically important base and offers its visitors a panoramic view of the city, the plains and the mountain range.

The Prizren Fortress contains an important part of the city's ancient history. The fortress is 525 meters above sea level. Archaeologists found out during excavation work in 2004 and 2009-2011 that the place had been inhabited by humans since the Bronze Age. Iron Age, Roman and Late Antique finds were also made. The late antique historian Prokopios of Caesarea (500-562) mentions in his work De Aedificiis (Eng. Buildings) within Dardania a fortress called Petrizen. The researchers assume that it is this fortress. The archaeological excavation work began as early as 1969 and over time traces of medieval (11th to 15th centuries) and Ottoman residential buildings were found inside the fortress. The Ottomans also built a hammam, a mosque and military facilities. The latter were used until 1912 and since then the fortress has been in a continuous process of decline.

In 2008, some restoration and maintenance work was initiated as an immediate measure to prevent this degradation process. The Prizren Fortress, with its dominant position in the city, is one of the most important monuments that attracts visitors to Prizren. In addition to high historical, architectural and scientific values, this place has great economic value for the development of cultural tourism. From 2010, as part of the international Dokufest documentary film festival, an open cinema will be improvised at the entrance of the fortress, in which various films will be broadcast that enrich the fortress function with an important cultural activity. Prizren Fortress is worth a visit on your Kosovo vacations.