Pustec Municipality (; ), previously known as Liqenas Commune () from 1973 to 2013, is a municipality in the

Korçë County Korçë County (), officially the County of Korçë (), is a Counties of Albania, county in the Southern Albania, Southern Region of the Republic of Albania. It is the largest by area and the List of counties of Albania by population, fifth most p ...

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

. The population at the 2011 census was 3,290, in a total area of . The municipality's flag features the

Vergina Sun The Vergina Sun (), also known as the Star of Vergina, Vergina Star or Argead Star, is a rayed solar symbol first appearing in ancient Greek art of the period between the 6th and 2nd centuries BC. The Vergina Sun proper has sixteen triangular ra ...

. It consists of nine villages, comprising the areas along the Albanian, the southwestern shore of

Lake Prespa The Lake Prespa is located on the tripoint of North Macedonia, Albania and Greece. It is a system of two lakes separated by an isthmus: the Great Prespa Lake, divided between the three countries, and the Little Prespa Lake, mostly within Greec ...

. It is part of the so-called Mala Prespa area, which is home to a large part of the local ethnic Macedonian minority of Albania.“ON THE STATUS OF THE MINORITIES IN THE REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA”
Albanian Helsinki Committee with support of the Finnish Foundation ‘KIOS’ and “Finnish NGO Foundation for Human Rights”. Hosted at SEE developed by the Applied Research and Communications Fund in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

(www.arc.online.bg) under a two-year project sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian United States foreign aid, foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 19 ...

. Albanian and Macedonian are official languages of the municipality.

History

The village of Cerje was first mentioned in documents from the 14th century. The names of other villages were found in more modern documents. According to a 1900 ethnographic survey, the number of inhabitants at the time was 1,830. The "La Macédoine et sa Population Chrétienne" survey by Dimitar Mishev (D. Brankov) from 1905 shows that the local Christian inhabitants were divided between

Bulgarian Exarchate The Bulgarian Exarchate (; ) was the official name of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church before its autocephaly was recognized by the Ecumenical See in 1945 and the Bulgarian Patriarchate was restored in 1953. The Exarchate (a de facto autocephaly) ...

and

Patriarchate of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (, ; ; , "Roman Orthodox Patriarchate, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Istanbul") is one of the fifteen to seventeen autocephalous churches that together compose the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is headed ...

. On 18 March 2013, the Albanian government changed the official name of the municipality, from the Albanian Liqenas to the Macedonian Pustec. Pustec Multilingual Road Signs

Villages

The municipality contains nine villages. * Cerje * Dollna Goricë * Glloboçen * Gorna Goricë * Leskë *

Pustec Pustec (; ) formerly known as Liqenas (1973–2013), is a village in Pustec Municipality, Korçë County, eastern Albania. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Prespa, it is home to much of the Macedonian minority in Albania. Geography ...

* Shulin * Tuminec * Zërnovskë

Demographics

According to the 2011 census, 97% of the municipality's residents were

ethnic Macedonians Macedonians ( ) are a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group native to the region of Macedonia in Southeast Europe. They speak Macedonian, a South Slavic language. The large majority of Macedonians identify as Eastern Orthodox Christians, ...

and 96% were Orthodox Christians. As per 2022, according to

INSTAT The Institute of Statistics () is an independent public legal entity tasked with producing official statistics in the Albania, Republic of Albania. INSTAT is organized at the central level, with regional statistical offices at the local level tha ...

, Pustec had only 8 births, second lowest only to

Dropull Dropull ( sq-definite, Dropulli; ''Dropoli'' or ''Deropoli'') is a municipality in Gjirokastër County, in southern Albania. The region stretches from south of the city of Gjirokastër to the Greek–Albanian border, along the Drino river. The reg ...

Education

Each of the nine villages in the municipality has an elementary school. Gorna Gorice has an 8-year school, while Pustec has both an 8-year school and a secondary school.

Twinned municipalities

* Novaci Municipality,

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

History

Villages

Demographics

Education

Twinned municipalities

References

See also