Lezhë Castle (

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

:''Kalaja e Lezhës'') is a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

dominating the city of

Lezhë Lezhë (, sq-definite, Lezha) is a city in the Republic of Albania and seat of Lezhë County and Lezhë Municipality. One of the main strongholds of the Labeatai, the earliest of the fortification walls of Lezhë are of typical Illyrian const ...

, northern

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 ...

. Its highest point is . Lezhë Castle is at an elevation of . Lezhë Castle began from illyrian fortifiations. It was rebuilt by the Venetians in the 1440s and the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

in 1522. In the late Middle Ages, the castle belonged to the

Dukagjini family The Dukagjini are an Albanian feudal noble family who ruled over an area of Northern Albania and Western Kosovo known as the Principality of Dukagjini in the 14th and 15th centuries. They may have been relatives or descendants of the earlier ...

. The two brothers

Tanush Thopia Tanush Thopia or Tanusio Thopia (, la, Tanusas Thopius; d. 1467) was an Albanian nobleman and one of the closest collaborators of Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg. Thopia descended from the Thopia family that converted from Orthodox Christianity t ...

and Progon Dukagjini (sons of Lekë I) through an agreement which preserved their trade rights and estates around the castle placed the city and the castle under Venetian control in 1393 as a means to defend it against Ottoman expansion. The Venetians formally ceded the castle to the Ottomans in 1506. Lezhe Castle
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Buildings and structures completed in 1440 Infrastructure completed in 1522 Castles in Albania Illyrian architecture Buildings and structures in Lezhë 1522 establishments in the Ottoman Empire Tourist attractions in Lezhë County {{Albania-castle-stub

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