City
Berat
The 'city of a thousand windows': an Ottoman hill town under a still-inhabited castle, UNESCO-listed since 2008.
In plain language
UNESCO protects places that matter to the whole world. Albania has four of them: the ancient city of Butrint, the old towns of Berat and Gjirokastër, the Albanian part of the Lake Ohrid region, and some very old beech forests.
Simple explanation
UNESCO protects places that matter to the whole world. Albania has four of them: the ancient city of Butrint, the old towns of Berat and Gjirokastër, the Albanian part of the Lake Ohrid region, and some very old beech forests.
Butrint — inscribed 1992
A city occupied from at least the 8th century BC to the 19th century AD, holding Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman remains on one wooded peninsula. Extended in 1999.
Historic Centres of Berat and Gjirokastra — 2005 and 2008
Gjirokastra was inscribed in 2005 and Berat added in 2008, as rare surviving examples of an Ottoman-era architectural type — the fortified tower-house town.
Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid Region — Albanian sector added 2019
Lake Ohrid was inscribed for North Macedonia in 1979–80; the Albanian sector of the lake and its shoreline was added in 2019, making it a transboundary property.
Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests — Albanian components inscribed 2017
Albanian old-growth beech stands, including in Shebenik-Jabllanicë and Lurë, form part of an enormous serial transboundary site spanning eighteen countries.
And on the intangible list
Albanian iso-polyphony was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2005.
Connected subjects
These are real relationships in the Atlas — places that are near this one, and subjects it genuinely belongs with. Nothing here is a generic recommendation.
Related subjects
Historic site
Butrint
A Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman city layered on one wooded peninsula — Albania's first UNESCO site.
City
Gjirokastër
The 'stone city': slate-roofed tower houses on a steep slope beneath one of the Balkans' largest castles.
Lake
Lake Ohrid
One of Europe's oldest and deepest lakes, UNESCO-listed and home to species found nowhere else.
Protected area
Shebenik-Jabllanicë National Park
Old-growth beech forest on the North Macedonian border, part of a UNESCO-listed primeval forest network.
Subject
Albanian Iso-Polyphony
Multipart unaccompanied singing over a held drone, inscribed by UNESCO in 2005.
Sources
This page draws on the curated inventory only; no external source has been attached to it yet.
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