Antique City Albanopolis

Like many historical sites in Albania, the ruins of Albanopolis have hardly been plundered by safe hunters. The children in the village tell how buses with "tourists" used to come on weekends, and dozens of men with metal detectors ran around looking for coins, bronze or other antiques to sell. In fact, the place is full of deep holes and legends of treasure chambers can be heard all over the village.

Albanopolis was a town in ancient Roman Macedonia, more precisely in Epirus Nova, the town of the Albanoi, an Illyrian tribe. The editors of the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman world state that the location of Albanopolis is today Zgërdhesh near Krujë, Albania. The ancient city may correspond to later references to the settlement of Arbanon and Albanon in the Middle Ages, although it is not certain that it was the same place. The city appears around 150 AD almost 300 years after the Roman conquest of the region. It was believed that the Illyrian castle of Zgërdhesh was indeed the site of the ancient city, Albanopolis, the capital of the Albanians, from which today's country takes its name. The city was built on a hill and covers an area of about 10 hectares. The once 1,400 m long protective walls are now 90 m long and still relatively intact. The large Acropolis dominates about one third of the area that was once enclosed by walls. A small, particularly beautiful marble statue of Artemis belongs to the finds at this place. The ancient city flourished for three or four centuries, but was finally abandoned around the second century AD. There are also remains of three rectangular Illyrian watchtowers that were probably built in 4 BC. Also some of the gates of the city are still well preserved and worth a visit. On the site, right at the beginning of the Acropolis, there are also the foundations of an early Christian chapel, which are easy to see.