The site began as Roman Scampa, a fortified station on the Via Egnatia, the great road linking Durrës with Constantinople; its first walls date from around the 4th century AD and were strengthened under Emperor Justinian. In 1466 the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II rebuilt the fortress on the old foundations as a base against Skanderbeg, and the city’s name comes from the Ottoman Turkish for ‘the fortress’. The roughly rectangular circuit was once guarded by 26 towers, and the southern wall with its gate is still well preserved.
Inside the walls, look for the King Mosque, built around 1492 under Sultan Bayezid II and one of the oldest mosques in Albania, the Orthodox Church of St Mary with its finely carved wooden iconostasis, the Clock Tower and an old hammam. Simply wandering the quiet lanes between historic houses is part of the pleasure.
The castle is an easy stop on the way from Tirana towards Lake Ohrid and Korçë, and a fine introduction to Elbasan’s long history.
