Peqin Castle

Peqin Castle, locally known as Kalaja e Peqinit, lies west of the town of the same name, in the county of Elbasan in Albania.

The history of the town dates back to Illyrian times. After the Illyrian Wars it became a Roman town and was known as Clodiana/Claudiana. It is thought that the castle was founded by the Romans at the same time as they were constructing the Via Egnatia (an important Roman road linking the Adriatic coast to Byzantium) during the 2nd century BC. The town was one of the stops on that road.

In the 15th century, Peqin was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. The Turks then rebuilt and expanded the castle to their needs. The castle was visited by the Ottoman explorer Evliya Çelebi in the 17th century. He described it as follows: "…the walls of this castle reach about 12 m in height. Within resides the dizdar (castle warden), along with 70 soldiers. There are 5 cannons in the castle, and 10 small houses roofed with tiles. There is also a small mosque with no minaret. On the left side of the castle, connected to a wall, is a prayer chapel…".

The last resident of Peqin Castle was a Demir Pasha Bonatit. I think that was in the early 20th century, when the castle was called Kalaja Kadri Beg (Kadri Beg Castle).

The castle has a square plan with 3 corner towers and 2 wall towers. At present there are two gates. It is said that there were escape tunnels leading out from the castle to exits several kilometers outside the town. During my visit I didn't see any tunnel entrances and I highly doubt them ever existing. Archaeological research did find clay pipes in the castle walls, leading to the belief that the castle was supplied with water from outside.

Peqin Castle is freely accessible, at least when I visited. A nice castle ruin.

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