Description
Now old center of the city of Elbasan is represented by the castle district (Kala), where you can still admire the old city walls, built on the ruins of the Roman and Byzantine fortifications by the sovereign Ottoman Mehmet II, which gave the city the name of Eli-Bashan (“I put the hand”). In 2003 a project was started to recover the old fortress, today successfully completed, and it has returned to its former city walls. You may see the corner towers guard along the perimeter as well as the towers of the curtain and the fortified entrance.
Inside the fortress you can see the Royal Mosque, dated back to the fifteenth century, the Orthodox Church of St. Mary, built in 1650, and the Byzantine Church. The city is one of the cultural capitals of Albania and it houses several museums.