Travel Guide Berat

Berat/Berati has a population of around 36,000 (60,000 including the rest of the municipality). It is the capital of the Berat district (119,000 inhabitants). The town lies 47 km east of Fier, 69 km south of Elbasan and 98 km south of Tirana(via Elbasan).Nicknamed the "city of a thousand windows", Berat's old town center has been a Unesco World Heritage Site since 2008, along with that of Gjirokastra. While the rest of the city is of little interest, the historic center is superb, with the meandering Osum River, the Mangalem district of tightly-packed houses and the citadel, which houses the precious Onufri Museum. Long before it became the artistic heart of Albania with the Berat school (16th-18th centuries), the town developed thanks to the Greco-Ilian tribe of the Dassaretes, who made it their capital, Antipatria. Passed to the Macedonians and then the Romans, it became a major Byzantine stronghold under the name of Pulcheriopolis ("beautiful city"). Briefly occupied by the Bulgars, who renamed it Belgrad ("white city") in the 9th century, it resisted the Angevins of Sicily (1280-1281), before being conquered in 1417 by the Ottomans. The Ottomans gave the city an important commercial role, as well as a multicultural character by welcoming Jews expelled from Spain. A rich past to discover as you stroll along the cobbled streets, between mosques, churches and elegant white houses.