Laç (; sq-definite, Laçi) is a town and a former

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Lezhë County Lezhë County () is one of the 12 counties of Albania. The population as of 2021 was 120,678, in an area of 1,620 km².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 ...

. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision and the seat of the municipality

Kurbin Kurbin is a municipality in Lezhë County, northwestern Albania. It was created in 2015 by the merger of the former municipalities Fushë Kuqe, Laç, Mamurras and Milot. The seat of the municipality is the town Laç. The total population at th ...

. It was the administrative center of the former

Kurbin District Kurbin District () was one of the 36 districts of Albania, which were dissolved in July 2000 and replaced by 12 newly created counties. It had a population of 54,519 in 2001, and an area of . It is in the west of the country, and its capital was ...

. The population as of the 2023 census is 12,854. Its associated football club is

KF Laçi Klubi i Futbollit Laçi is an Albanian professional football club based in Laç. The club competes in the Kategoria e Parë, the second tier of Albanian football. Their home ground is Laçi Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 2,271. Un ...

. Laç is served by Laç Railway Station.

Name

Laç means swampy land in Albanian. Similar toponyms in Albania are Laç-Bruç, Kodër-Laç, Përroi i Laçit, Fushë-Laç etc.

Demographic history

Laç is recorded in the Ottoman ''defter'' of 1467 as a '' hass-ı mir-liva'' property 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 ...

. The settlement had only four households which were represented by the following household heads: ''Pal Suma'', ''Nikolla Smaka'', ''Gjergj Marku'', and ''Tanush Znishi''.

Church of St. Anthony

Known as "Kisha e Laçit" or "Kisha e Shna Ndout" in Albanian, this church is dedicated to St Anthony of Padua.

Notable people

* Qazim Laçi (born 1996), Albanian footballer with origins from Laç. * Salvador Gjonaj (born 26 September 1992), Albanian footballer. *

Jimilian Jimilian Ismaili (born 22 August 1994) is a Danish-Albanian singer. Life and career Ismaili's father was a well-known folk musician in Albania. The family left the country and lived temporarily in Belgium, until they applied for political a ...

(born 1994), Danish-Albanian singer.

Albani family

Pope Clement XI Pope Clement XI (; ; ; 23 July 1649 – 19 March 1721), born Giovanni Francesco Albani, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 November 1700 to his death in March 1721. Clement XI was a patron of the arts an ...

(

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: ''Clemens XI'';

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

: ''Clemente XI''; 23 July 1649 – 19 March 1721), born Giovanni Francesco Albani, head of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and ruler of the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; ; ), officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th c ...

from 23 November 1700 to his death in March 1721. He’s from the Albani family, which has its origins in Laç. * Alessandro Albani (1692–1779), Italian aristocrat and cardinal. * Annibale Albani (1682–1751), Italian cardinal. *

Francesco Albani Francesco Albani or Albano (17 March or 17 August 1578 – 4 October 1660) was an Italian Baroque painter of Albanian descent who was active in Bologna (1591–1600; 1609; 1610; 1618–1622), Rome (1600–1609; 1610–1617; 1623–1625), ...

(1578–1660), Baroque painter. * Gian Girolamo Albani (1504–1591), Roman Catholic cardinal. * Gian Francesco Albani (1720–1803), Roman Catholic cardinal.

References

Former municipalities in Lezhë County Administrative units of Kurbin Towns in Albania {{Lezhë-geo-stub