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Petrelë Castle (Kalaja e Petrelës) is a castle in central Albania. Its history dates
back tO
Justinian I. The castle of Petrela has a rich history, containing a tower which was built
in the 6th century AD. Petrela Castle is located on a hill in the southeast area of
Tirana, where since ancient times are crossed significant commercial and military
roads. The castle can be reached easily from the city of Tirana because of nice road
until Petrelë village located at the foot of the rock on which the castle is situated.
It is one of the tourist locations close to Tirana that attracts a great number of visitors.
The Castle, the prominent wooden structure is a restaurant, is perched on a rocky hill,
above the village with the same name. It has a triangular shape with two observation
towers. Although it was first built in ancient times, the present building dates back to
the 15th century.
The Petrela Castle was part of the signaling and defense system of the Kruja Castle.
The castles signaled to each other by means of fires. During Skanderbeg’s fight
against the Ottomans, the
Petrela Castle used to be under the command of Mamica Kastrioti, Skanderbeg's
sister. Today there is a restaurant inside the castle. The castle offers spectacular
views of the Erzen valley, the hills, olive groves, and surrounding mountains.
The defense building is composed by the castle and a wall that surrounds the
northern slope of the hill, which ends with a gate at its southern edge. From this
entrance gate located at same elevation like central square of the village, a cobbled
causeway leads up to the castle.
The castle has a triangular shape at the top of the cliff and has two circular towers at
its northern forehead. A narrow entrance between two towers, with some stairs that
are supported to the wall of castle, leads in its interior, where we can see two
deposits of water (stere), ruins of a quadratic central tower and other building ruins.
The castle has reached our days after different periods of building from which can be
clearly distinguished five stages.
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