Visit Berat Albania: a Short Travel Guide, Berat, Albania (B)

Berati or Berat Albania is one of the oldest and most beautiful cities in the Balkans. The panorama of its white cottages descending the mountain to the citadel is one of the country’s most iconic sights. The fortress walls enclose the whole summit of the hill. There are eight medieval churches inside, one of which has an exceptional collection of icons painted by the 16th-century artist Onufri.

Berat Albania also contains an excellent Ethnographic Museum and a number of other significant structures, including two of Albania’s oldest mosques.

Berat Albania has been inhabited since the Bronze Age. The vast Tomorri massif beyond it has long been revered as a sacred mountain, and it still hosts a massive Bektashi festival every August. The first evidence of the construction of the citadel dates back to the second half of the 4th century BC when the Illyrian Parthini ruled the region.

Berati flourished in the Middle Ages because of its advantageous location at the crossroads of trade routes from the south and the lowland plain. This made it a tempting conquest for subsequent invaders. The Bulgarian Empire captured the city in AD860 and held it until 1018, with the exception of a 40-year interval when it was reconquered by Byzantium. Despite a vigorous invasion by the Angevins, who besieged the fortress for seven months in 1280-81, Berati’s second return to the Byzantine fold lasted longer. However, when Byzantium’s authority fell in the mid-14th century, Berati and much of the rest of Albania became part of Stefan Dušan’s ‘Empire of the Serbs and the Greeks.’ ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).