Dictionary of islamic architecture

particularly in the USA where there are four Albanian
Albania

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10
mosques (in Detroit, Chicago and Waterbury,
Connecticut).
A recent survey has indicated that there may be as
many as 800 mosques surviving in Albania along with
300 historical Muslim sites. The mosques in Albania
are of two types, the classical Ottoman type derived
from Byzantine architecture based on a square domed
area with a triple-domed portico and the more
common rectangular buildings with wooden painted
ceilings which are typical of the Balkans. The oldest
Muslim building in the country is the Berat
Congregational Mosque built in 1380. Another early
mosque is the Ilias Mirahori Mosque in the town of
Korçë built in 1494 after the Ottomans had gained
control of the whole country. One of the most
celebrated mosques in Albania is at Krujë 20 km north
of the capital Tiranë. The mosque, located in the
grounds of Skanderberg’s castle, was built in 1779 and
has wooden ceilings painted to look like a dome set
on squinches. Another famous building is the Peqin
Mosque built in 1822 which incorporates a clock tower
into the design of the minaret.
Much of the secular Ottoman architecture in
Albania was destroyed in the fierce modernizing
programmes of the 1960s and 1970s with the exception
of the towns of Gjirokastër and Berat which have been
preserved as museum towns. The town of Gjirokastër
is built on slopes around the citadel which is located
on a high plateau. The town is first mentioned in the
twelfth century although the majority of surviving
buildings belong to the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. The typical house in the city consists of a
tall stone block structure up to five storeys high with
external and internal staircases, a design thought to
originate from fortified country houses in southern
Albania. The basic form of the house consists of a
lower storey containing a cistern and stable with an
upper storey reached by a flight of exterior stairs. The
upper storey was divided into two units: a guest room,
and a winter or family room containing a fireplace.
Later on more storeys were added to accommodate
extended families; these upper floors were reached
by internal staircases. In the seventeenth century
houses were built with two wings protecting the lower
external staircase.
Berat is a much older city dating back to the
Ilyrian period. Initially conquered by the Ottomans
in the fourteenth century, it was then recaptured,
and not finally occupied by the Turks until 1417.
The town is located on the banks of the Osun river
and like Gjirokastër is built around a citadel. The
citadel was remodelled by the Turks soon after its
capture in 1417 and again in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries to take account of the use of
artillery. Like the fortified houses of Gjirokastër the
houses of Berat have external staircases and the main
living area of the building is on the upper floor.
However, at Berat this feature was designed to
overcome the hilly nature of the ground rather than
for defensive reasons. Thus to avoid dampness and
having to excavate hillsides the houses are built on
stone substructures which are sometimes used for
storage. The upper parts of Berat houses are built
out of timber filled in with lath and plaster and then
whitewashed. The verandas sometimes extend along
the whole front of the house although in many cases