The Peqin Castle () is a

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

Peqin Peqin (, sq-definite, Peqini) is a town and municipality in Elbasan County, central Albania. The municipality was formed at the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities Gjoçaj, Karinë, Pajovë, Peqin, Përparim, Pe ...

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 ...

. In the Roman times the city was known by the name of Claudiana, an

Illyria In classical and late antiquity, Illyria (; , ''Illyría'' or , ''Illyrís''; , ''Illyricum'') was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by numerous tribes of people collectively known as the Illyrians. The Ancient Gree ...

n-inhabited territory. The foundations of the castle are thought to date from the Roman period, the time of the construction of the

Via Egnatia The Via Egnatia was a road constructed by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. It crossed Illyricum, Macedonia, and Thracia, running through territory that is now part of modern Albania, North Macedonia, Greece, and European Turkey as a contin ...

. Its walls at one point had a height of around . The castle was later rebuilt and expanded during the Turkish occupation of Albania, at which time it was passed into the control of the

Sipahi The ''sipahi'' ( , ) were professional cavalrymen deployed by the Seljuk Turks and later by the Ottoman Empire. ''Sipahi'' units included the land grant–holding ('' timar'') provincial ''timarli sipahi'', which constituted most of the arm ...

(lord) of the local fief, who added a palace and a

harem A harem is a domestic space that is reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A harem may house a man's wife or wives, their pre-pubescent male children, unmarried daughters, female domestic Domestic worker, servants, and other un ...

. The last resident of the castle was Demir Pasha. The 17th-century historian

Evliya Çelebi Dervish Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi (), was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman explorer who travelled through his home country during its cultural zenith as well as neighboring lands. He travelled for over 40 years, rec ...

mentioned the fortress in his writings:

...the walls of this castle reach about 12 m in height. Within resides the ''
dizdar Dizdar (; ) was the title given in the Ottoman Empire to a castle warden or fortress commander, appointed to manage troops and keep the fortress in its role as a defence point. The word is of Persian language, Persian origin, meaning gatekeeper ...
'', along with 70 soldiers. There are five cannons in the castle, and ten small houses roofed with tiles. There is also a small mosque with no minaret. On the left side of the castle, connected to a wall, is a prayer chapel (''namazgja'')...

The castle was equipped with tunnels which served as exits several km away from the city in difficult times. Similarly, clay pipes have been found in the walls of the castle, which archaeologists believe is an indication that water was supplied from outside the castle during wartime.

References

Castles in Albania Buildings and structures in Peqin Roman fortifications in Macedonia {{Albania-castle-stub