The Dorëzi Fortress is situated close to Dorëz village in

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

, 5 km east of

Pezë Pezë ( sq-definite, Peza) is a former municipality in the Tirana County, central Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Al ...

and 20 km southwest of

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

. It is the oldest in the

Tirana County Tirana County ( sq, Qarku Tiranë, italic=unset), officially the County of Tirana ( sq, Qarku i Tiranës, italic=unset), is a Counties of Albania, county in the Central Albania, Central Region of the Republic of Albania. It is the tenth largest by ...

and dates to the 9th century BC.

History

The first archaeological expedition was performed in 1951. The ruins of the fortress are to be found in one of the highest hills of the

Krrabë Krrabë is a town and a former municipality in the Tirana County, central Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. I ...

, at about above sea level. It is thought that

Dimale Dimale or Dimallum ( Illyrian: Διμάλη /Dimálē/ ; Ancient Greek: Διμάλη or Διμάλλον; Latin: ''Dimallum'') was a town in southern Illyria in classical antiquity which was situated in the vicinity or within the territory of the ...

may have been situated in the Dorëzi Fortress. The surrounding wall is in its southern part, and is long from east to west. The fortress construction seems to have had three phases—the first with raw stones, the second with carved blocks placed with no mortar (

Hellenistic period In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 3 ...

) and the third with crushed stones and the use of mortar (4th–6th centuries AD). One can see the main entrance of the fortress. The presence of old vases that date to those centuries suggests that the site was inhabited until at least the 4th–6th centuries AD.

References

Castles in Albania Buildings and structures in Tirana {{Albania-castle-stub Tourist attractions in Tirana Buildings and structures completed in the 9th century BC