World Bank, project for the Castle of Gjirokastra

18 Korrik 2022, 07:53Culture TEMA

The World Bank Program for Integrated Urban Development and Tourism is supporting the restoration of Gjirokastra Castle, one of the largest in the Balkans.
According to researchers, the restoration is expected to increase tourism by 40% in areas that were not frequented before.

The restoration has also opened debates about the museums located in the Castle, which have not changed in form and content since the time of the communist regime.
Towering over the stone town in the shape of a naval battleship, Gjirokastra Castle is undergoing restoration supported by a World Bank program.

The works have included the restoration of the clock tower, walls and galleries, repairs of buildings located in the castle and treatment of the problems of the structures that have been damaged over the years.

The specialist of the Directorate of Monuments of National Culture in Gjirokastër Vaso Polo talks about these interventions.

“The project which is in the implementation phase in the Gjiroakastra Castle will give way to some problems that the castle has had in the past. The problems have been identified with cracks in the external wall structures, movement and damage to the monuments due to the lack of investment between years”.

Mr. Polo further says that the interventions will increase tourism by about 40% in parts of the castle that were not frequented before.

“Gjirokastra Castle with the current project financed by the World Bank in many parts that have been dark until now will come alive. Visitability will increase by at least 40% in these areas that have been inaccessible until now and where restoration and maintenance work is being done.”

Restorations in the castle have also brought attention to the museums located in it, such as the Weapons Museum and the famous former “7 Windows” Prison. The head of the museum, Besnik Shehu, says that the time has come to give up on the form and content of the museum in the castle, which should be built according to him on a scientific basis.

“The museums that are in the castle need intervention, maybe even capital. I am taking the specific case of the Weapons Museum. I don’t know how the fate will be, as the instances determine it, but I think it should exist as a museum and why not exist as a national museum. While this weapons museum was located in Gjirokastër and in some way the castle has also received the status of this museum. I would also say that there is no reason for Gjirokastra, a Unesco city, to remain with museums at the local level.”

Mr. Shehu says that visitation has been increasing since the castle has many features that make it attractive to both local and foreign tourists.

“The castle is the main monument that is associated with the longevity of the city. I would say such an axiom that you can come to Gjirokastër and not eat or drink, but you will come to the castle and not do it. We take 2019 as a benchmark for tourism, before the pandemic started, when tourism reached its peak in Gjirokastër. This year, the tourist flow is coming towards this trend, of course it has not reached those proportions, but it is following that trend”.

The traces of the construction of the Gjirokastra Castle date back to the 4th century and in the 13th century there are documents about its existence. The castle took the magnificent form it has today during the rule of Ali Pasha Tepelena.


The castle of Gjirokastra had prison facilities inside it during the Ottoman period, but the largest prison was built during the period of King Zog, in 1932. The prison was also functional during communism until 1968, when the National Museum began to be built in the castle of Arms and make preparations for the National Folklore Festival.

Lini një Përgjigje