Gur i Bardhë ( sq-definite, Guri i Bardhë, in English: ''White Stone''; also known in the Middle Ages as Petralba) is a village in the municipality of

Klos KLOS (95.5 FM broadcasting, FM, "95-5 KLOS") is a commercial radio station City of license, licensed to Los Angeles, California, and serves the Greater Los Angeles area. The station is owned by Meruelo Group, Meruelo Media. KLOS airs a mainst ...

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

History

Gur i Bardhë is a small mountain village that occurs above the Mat Valley. There is still no exact date that corresponds to the establishment of this village, but the few excavations and discoveries that have been made in this village reveal its early existence. Stone working tools that match the time of stone use have been found. Also discovered are many old cemeteries with various symbolic objects and engraved

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

tiles. (in Albanian) Some historians such have connected the name Petralba with

Albanopolis Albanopolis (; ) was a city of the Albanoi, an Illyrian tribe. Albanopolis has been located by various scholars at the modern-day village of Zgërdhesh or at Krujë. The ancient city may correspond with later mentions of the settlement c ...

, a Roman-era city mentioned by

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

. Gur i Bardhë (''Bilakamin'') is recorded in the Ottoman ''

defter A ''defter'' was a type of tax register and land cadastre in the Ottoman Empire. Etymology The term is derived from Greek , literally 'processed animal skin, leather, fur', meaning a book, having pages of goat parchment used along with papyrus ...

'' of 1467 as a '' hass-ı mir-liva'' settlement in the

vilayet A vilayet (, "province"), also known by #Names, various other names, was a first-order administrative division of the later Ottoman Empire. It was introduced in the Vilayet Law of 21 January 1867, part of the Tanzimat reform movement initiated b ...

of Mati. The village had a total of 46 households and the anthroponymy attested depicts an Albanian character: ''Andrija Gazi'', ''Peter Limani'', ''Gazi'', ''Gjeç Aleksi'', ''Ishri Buluzi'', ''Dhonabi'' son-in-law of ''Ishri'', ''Gjin Rakizi'', ''Martin Muzaka'', ''Kita Dajxhi'', ''Lesh Çokani'', ''Gjon Puliti'', ''Lazar Thana'', ''Kola Spavali'', ''Gjin Boliti'', ''Gjon Senkuri'', ''Kal Sghuni'', ''Gjergj Bulushi'', ''Andrija Shirgji'', ''Lika Duka'', ''Lazar Bulushi'', '' Mastër Nikolla'', ''Gjin Nikolla'', ''Lal Nikolla'', ''Veske'', ''Lalnikolla'', ''Gjin Spavali'', ''Gjergj Jani'', ''Kal Mizi'', ''Todor Kuprini'', ''Gjin Biza'', ''Peter Skalabra'', ''Gjin Skalabra'', ''Andrija Koçani'', ''Gjin Mirzi'', ''Gjergj Bratisllavi'', ''Peter Boliti'', ''Engjëll Koçani'', ''Gjon Bulushi'', ''Nika Gazi'', ''Gjon Spavali'', ''Peter Lumashi'', ''Nika Gropa'', ''Peter Bulushi'', and ''Gjin Koçani''.

References

Populated places in Mat (municipality) Villages in Dibër County {{Albania-geo-stub