Elbasan

Elbasan Castle

In August 2010 archaeologists discovered two Illyrian graves near the walls of the castle of Elbasan.[5]

In the second century BC, a trading post called Mansio Scampa near the site of modern Elbasan developed close to a junction of two branches of an important Roman road, the Via Egnatia, which connected the Adriatic coast with Byzantium. It was one of the most important routes of the Roman Empire. By the third or fourth century AD, this place had grown into a real city protected by a substantial Roman fortress with towers; the fort covered around 300 square meters.[6] This city appears on late antique itineraries like the Tabula Peutingeriana and Itinerarium Burdigalense as Scampis or Hiscampis.[7]

It took part in the spread of Christianity along the Via, and had a bishop, cathedral and basilicas as early as the fifth century. As a town in a wide river valley it was vulnerable to attacks once the legions were withdrawn but Emperor Justinian made an effort to improve the fortifications. The city survived attacks by the Bulgars and Ostrogoths and was mentioned in the work of Procopius of Cæsarea.

Ruins of a Paleochristian basilica, built in the 5th or 6th century AD, were found in Bezistan area.

The site seems to have been abandoned until the Ottoman army built a military camp there, followed by urban reconstruction under Sultan Mehmet II in 1466. Mehmet constructed a massive four-sided castle with a deep moat and three gates. He named it Elbasan, meaning 'conquered country' in Turkish.[8] He had built the castle in order to fight Skanderbeg, due to an ongoing conflict between the Ottomans and Albanians.[9]

Naziresha Mosque

It became the seat of Sanjak of Elbasan, a centre of Ottoman urban civilisation over the next 445 years. Although Halil Inalcik explains that the Sanjak of Elbasan was established as soon as the fortress of Elbasan was constructed in 1466, based on Tursun Beg's records there is a possibility that Elbasan initially was part of the Sanjak of Ohrid.[10] In 1467 many Christians from Skopje, Ohrid, Serres and Kastoria were forcibly deported to Elbasan.[11] In the late 17th century, the Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi passed through Elbasan and noted that "all the inhabitants speak Albanian" having knowledge of Turkish with Muslim clergy being literate in Persian, while merchants also used the Greek and "Frankish" languages.[12]

By the end of the 17th century it had 2,000 inhabitants. The fortress was dismantled by Reshit Pasha in 1832. In 1864, the Sanjak of Elbasan became a part of Monastir Vilayet. In the late nineteenth century, Elbasan was inhabited by 3,000 Muslim families and 280 Orthodox Christian families, of which 100 were old Orthodox Albanian families living in the old Christian neighbourhood within the fortress and 180 Aromanian families residing in the St. Nicholas neighbourhood on the edge of town.[13] At the beginning of the 20th century it was estimated that 15,000 people lived in Elbasan.[14]

In 1909, after the Young Turks revolution in Istanbul, an Albanian National Congress was held in Elbasan to study educational and cultural questions. The delegates, all from central and southern Albania, endorsed the decision of the Congress of Monastir, which was held in Monastir (modern Bitola, North Macedonia) to use the Latin alphabet rather than the Arabic script in written Albanian. In Elbasan there were living Albanians, Turkish, Aromunian and Sephardic Jews.

Before the Second World War, Elbasan was a city with a mixture of eastern and medieval buildings, narrow cobbled streets and a large bazaar. There was a clearly defined Muslim settlement within the castle walls, a Vlach district on the outskirts of the city and several fine mosques and Islamic buildings. At the time the population was about 15,000 people.

Elbasan Castle

The very first teachers' training college in Albania, the Shkolla Normale e Elbasanit, was established in Elbasan. During First Balkan War, it was occupied by Serbian troops on 29 November 1912. They withdrew from Elbasan on 25 October 1913 due to United Kingdom and Austria Hungary's ultimatum.

The Muslim majority of Elbasan opposed the installation of Prince Wied in 1914. Elbasan was occupied successively by Serbs, Bulgarians, Austrians and Italians between 1915 and 1918. The Bulgarian army occupied Elbasan on January 29, 1916, during Bulgarian occupation of Albania[15] In March 1916 the army of Austria-Hungary took over control of Elbasan [16] From June 1916 to March 1917 Stanislav Kostka Neumann fought with the Austrian army there and called his war memoirs about the occupation in Elbasan.[17] Industrial development began in the Zogist period when tobacco and alcohol factories were established.

The city was also noted for its good public buildings, advanced educational provisions, public gardens and timber-built shops. There was much wartime damage, which was followed by an intensive programme of industrial development in the Communist period that boosted the city to around 75,000 inhabitants. The culmination of this process was the construction of the huge Steel of the Party (Albanian: Celiku i Partise) metallurgical complex outside the city, in the Shkumbini valley, built with Chinese assistance in the 1970s. It was emphatically called "The Second National Liberation of Albanian" by Enver Hoxha. The cost of the complex in environmental impact was high for the Shkumbin valley.[18]

Elbasan Railway Station was opened in 1950.

In 2014, the Albanian government reconstructed former Ruzhdi Bizhuta Stadium. The renovated Elbasan Arena became the home stadium of the Albanian national football team and Albania's de facto stadium meeting FIFA's criteria.

• Shefqet Vërlaci – Albanian politician.
• Ibrahim Biçakçiu – Albanian landowner, Axis collaborator and Prime Minister of Albania
• Aqif Pasha Elbasani – Albanian political figure
• Lef Nosi – Albanian politician, scholar and patriot
• Teki Biçoku – Albanian geologist and former member and president of the Academy of Sciences of Albania.
• Qemal Karaosmani – He served as General Secretary of the Provisional Government of Albania
• Thoma Deliana – Albanian politician of Communist Albania
• Sokrat Dodbiba – Albanian economist and politician who served as Minister of Finance of Albania during 1943–44
• Pirro Dodbiba – Albanian politician of the Albanian Party of Labour (PPSh).
• Shefqet Daiu – Signatories of the Albanian Declaration of Independence
• Mahir Domi – Albanian linguist, professor, and academic
• Shefqet Stringa – Banking pioneer in Albania

• Abdullah Pashe Taushani – Member of the Ali Pasha Tepelena's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces

• Eva Murati – Albanian actress and TV host

• Saimir Pirgu – Albanian international opera singer
• Miriam Cani – Albanian singer-songwriter and television host

• Armando Sadiku – Albanian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Levante in La Liga and the Albania national team
• Elton Basriu – Albanian professional footballer

• Kostandin Kristoforidhi – Albanian translator and scholar
• Fatos Kongoli – Recently become one of the most forceful and convincing representatives of contemporary Albanian prose
• Klara Buda – Albanian journalist and writer
• Luljeta Lleshanaku – Albanian poet
• Dhimitër Shuteriqi – Albanian scholar, literary historian, and writer.
• Iliriana Sulkuqi – Award-winning Albanian poet and journalist

• Visarion Xhuvani – Primate of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania from 1929 to 1937