Rozafa Castle

Rozafa Castle () or Shkodër Castle () is a castle near the city of Shkodër, in northwestern Albania. It rises imposingly on a rocky hill, above sea level, surrounded by the Buna and Drin rivers. Shkodër is the seat of Shkodër County, and is one of Albania's oldest and most historic towns, as well as an important cultural and economic centre.

The hill was settled since the Early Bronze Age. The earliest fortification walls are dated to the 4th-3rd century BCE constituting the citadel of the Illyrian city of Skodra, which together with various sites of the lower city, shows the growing and vibrant nature of the Illyrian capital under the Labeatae, especially during
the reign of king Gentius. Nevertheless, the visible walls of the castle are mostly of Venetian construction.

Name

Although there have been several legends about the etymology of the name Rozafa, scholars have linked it with Resafa, the place where Saint Sergius died. Shkodra and the surrounding area have a long and well-documented tradition of venerating Sergius ().

The castle is also named after the city of ''Shkodër'' (definite Albanian form: ''Shkodra'').

History

Antiquity

Due to its strategic location, the hill had a prominent role in antiquity. There was an Illyrian stronghold during the rule of the Labeates and Ardiaei, whose capital was Scodra.

During the Third Illyrian War the Illyrian king Gentius concentrated his forces in Scodra. When he was attacked by the Roman army led by L. Anicius Gallus, Gentius fled into the city and was trapped there hoping that his brother Caravantius would come at any moment with a large relieving army, but that did not happen. After his defeat, Gentius sent two prominent tribal leaders, Teuticus and Bellus, as envoys to negotiate with the Roman commander. On the third day of the truce, Gentius surrendered to the Romans, was placed in custody and sent to Rome. The Roman army marched north of Scutari Lake where, at Meteon, they captured Gentius' wife queen Etuta, his brother Caravantius, his sons Scerdilaidas and Pleuratus along with leading Illyrians.

The fall of the Illyrian kingdom in 168 BC is transmitted by Livy in a ceremonial manner of the triumph of Anicius in Rome:

Medieval and Ottoman period

Within the castle there are the ruins of a 13th-century Venetian Catholic church, considered by scholars as the St. Stephen's Cathedral, which after the siege of Shkodër in the 15th century, when the Ottoman Empire captured the city, was transformed into the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Mosque.

The castle has been the site of several famous sieges, including the siege of Shkodër of 1478-79 and the siege of Shkodër of 1912-13. The castle and its surroundings form an Archaeological Park of Albania.

Legend

A famous widespread legend about human sacrifice and immurement with the aim of building a facility is traditionally orally transmitted by Albanians and connected with the construction of the Rozafa Castle. The existence of this Albanian legend is attested as early as 1505, in the work ''De obsidione Scodrensi'', by the Albanian humanist and historian Marin Barleti.

The story tells about the initiative of three brothers who set down to build a castle. They worked all day, but the foundation walls fell down at night. They met a wise old man who seems to know the solution of the problem asking them if they were married. When the three brothers responded positively, the old man said:

The three brothers swore on '' besa'' to not speak with their wives of that happened. However the two eldest brothers broke their promise and quietly told their wives everything, while the honest youngest brother kept his ''besa'' and said nothing. The mother of the three brothers knew nothing of their agreement, and while the next afternoon at lunch time, she asked her daughters-in-law to bring lunch to the workers, two of them refused with an excuse. The brothers waited anxiously to see which wife was carrying the basket of food. It was Rozafa, the wife of the youngest brother, who left her younger son at home. Embittered, the youngest brother explained to her what the deal was, that she was to be sacrificed and buried in the wall of the castle so that they could finish building it, and she didn't protest but, worried about her infant son, she accepted being immured and made a request:

A well known version of the legend is the Serbian epic poem called '' The Building of Skadar'' (Зидање Скадра, ''Zidanje Skadra'') published by Vuk Karadžić in 1815, after he recorded a folk song sung by a Herzegovinian storyteller named Old Rashko. The three brothers in the legend were represented by members of the noble Mrnjavčević family, Vukašin, Uglješa and Gojko. Furthermore, Dundes states that the name Gojko is invented. Folklorist Alan Dundes notes that the ballad continued to be admired by generations of folksingers and ballad scholars.

The cult of the maternal breasts and the motif of immurement that appear in the Albanian legend of Rozafa are reflections of the worship of the earth mother goddess in Albanian folk beliefs.; . The local people believe that Rozafa's milk still flows in the walls of the stronghold she sacrificed herself to preserve. This is manifested by the native milkweeds flow when their stalks are broken, and limestone stalactites found within the original Illyrian gateway. Limestone deposits are scraped off by local women, and by mixing them with water they obtain a medicine to drink or apply to their breasts in order to increase their milk supply, and so that they can infuse their babies with the character and patriotism of Rozafa, the legendary immured woman.

Tourism

Gallery

2013-10-03 Rozafa Castle, Shkodër 0328.jpg, Central part of the castle
2013-10-03 Rozafa Castle, Shkodër 0263.jpg, Inside the castle
Shkoder Castle 4.jpg, Hall inside the castle
2013-10-03 Rozafa Castle, Shkodër 0341.jpg, A section of the wall overgrown by grass
Vues iv41056.jpg, Rozafa castle in 1863
Rozafa Castle.jpg, View of the Buna river from the castle walls
Rozafa Castle Ruins.jpg, Ruins of the castle
ALB0033ar.jpg, View of the castle on the reverse of a 1964 1 Lek banknote

See also

* Shkoder
* List of castles in Albania
* Albanian mythology
* Constantin and Doruntine
* Tourism in Albania

References

Sources

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{{Authority control

Castles in Albania
Buildings and structures in Shkodër
Illyrian architecture
Tourist attractions in Shkodër County
Pashalik of Scutari
Former cathedrals