Tujani Castle (Albanian : Kalaja e Tujanit) is a castle near the village Tujan, in Albania.
The first fortifications of the castle were built in the early Iron Age. The castle was rebuilt in the 4th century AD. [1]
The castle is close to the Tujan village, in one of the hills that are west of the Mount Dajt. It is a fortification in the form of a rectangle 160 m large and 190 m long. It is divided into three parts by walls that go in a north–south direction. Inside the walls can be seen traces of building with walls 0.8 m large. The eastern side is naturally protected by the rocks and is not surrounded by walls. The technique of reconstruction can be dated to the 4th century AD, but the early construction dates back to the Iron Age. [1]
A Roman siege tower or breaching tower is a specialized siege engine, constructed to protect assailants and ladders while approaching the defensive walls of a fortification. The tower was often rectangular with four wheels with its height roughly equal to that of the wall or sometimes higher to allow archers or crossbowmen to stand on top of the tower and shoot arrows or quarrels into the fortification. Because the towers were wooden and thus flammable, they had to have some non-flammable covering of iron or fresh animal skins.
A hillfort is a type of fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late European Bronze Age and Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roman period. The fortification usually follows the contours of a hill and consists of one or more lines of earthworks or stone ramparts, with stockades or defensive walls, and external ditches. If enemies were approaching, the civilians would spot them from a distance.
A fortification is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin fortis ("strong") and facere.
A siege engine is a device that is designed to break or circumvent heavy castle doors, thick city walls and other fortifications in siege warfare. Some are immobile, constructed in place to attack enemy fortifications from a distance, while others have wheels to enable advancing up to the enemy fortification. There are many distinct types, such as siege towers that allow foot soldiers to scale walls and attack the defenders, battering rams that damage walls or gates, and large ranged weapons that attack from a distance by launching projectiles. Some complex siege engines were combinations of these types.
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Rozafa Castle or Shkodër Castle is a castle near the city of Shkodër, in northwestern Albania. It rises imposingly on a rocky hill, 130 metres (430 ft) above sea level, surrounded by the Buna and Drin rivers. Shkodër is the seat of Shkodër County, and is one of Albania's oldest and most historic towns, as well as an important cultural and economic centre.
In archaeology, earthworks are artificial changes in land level, typically made from piles of artificially placed or sculpted rocks and soil. Earthworks can themselves be archaeological features, or they can show features beneath the surface.
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Kaninë Castle is a castle in the village Kaninë near Vlorë, in southwestern Albania.
The Illyrian Tombs of Selca e Poshtme are located near the town of Pogradec in Albania near the village of Selcë e Poshtme. On the right bank of the river Shkumbin at an elevation of 1040 m above sea level, lie the remains of the ancient city of Pelion and the accompanying necropolis. The Roman Via Egnatia led past it towards Thessaloniki. Though there are traces of human activity in Neolithic times, the settlement proper dates to the Iron Age through to the Illyrian urban period, and reached its height under settlement by the Illyrian tribe of Enchele in the later Iron Age and was also occupied in the Roman period as traces of a municipal building show. From the 4th to 1st centuries BC the city was the royal residence of Illyrian kings and therefore, also probably an important political and economic centre. In 1996, Albania included the Royal tombs of Selca e Poshtme in the UNESCO World heritage list of proposals.
Kratul was an Illyrian settlement and fortification located in the territories of the Illyrian tribe of Labeates. The archaeological material indicates that life at the settlement was active from the early Iron Age until the 1st century AD. In the modern era it is the name of a city situated in Albania, north of Boks.
Kaninë is a settlement in the Vlorë County, southwestern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality Vlorë. It is home to the Kaninë Castle.
Dajti Castle is a 1.12 hectares archaeological site in Albania, comprising the ruins of a Roman fortification and several dwellings. It belongs to late antiquity, probably having been built over Illyrian foundations. It lies at 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) altitude on top of a hill, west-side of Mount Dajti, close to Tirana. It was discovered in 1963 and eventually was inscribed in the list of the Cultural Monuments of Albania. In 2008 a three-year restoration project began, aiming to conduct further archaeological searching and surveys and to improve the nearby infrastructure for visitors and tourists.
Tujan is a village in the former municipality of Dajt in Tirana County, Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality Tirana.
Durrës Castle is the fortified old city of Durrës, Albania. It is enclosed by city walls built in the late 5th century, and repaired and reinforced in the Middle Ages and early modern periods.
The architecture of Scotland in the Middle Ages includes all building within the modern borders of Scotland, between the departure of the Romans from Northern Britain in the early fifth century and the adoption of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century, and includes vernacular, ecclesiastical, royal, aristocratic and military constructions. The first surviving houses in Scotland go back 9500 years. There is evidence of different forms of stone and wooden houses exist and earthwork hill forts from the Iron Age. The arrival of the Romans led to the abandonment of many of these forts. After the departure of the Romans in the fifth century, there is evidence of the building of a series of smaller "nucleated" constructions sometimes utilizing major geographical features, as at Dunadd and Dumbarton. In the following centuries new forms of construction emerged throughout Scotland that would come to define the landscape.
Part of series of articles upon Archaeology of Kosovo
Rogoi is a Byzantine castle in Nea Kerasounta near Preveza, in western Greece. It is located on the site of the ancient city of Bouchetion (Βουχέτιον), which was abandoned in the late 1st century BC. Re-occupied in the 9th century, it became a bishopric and was refortified, playing an important role in the region's history in the 14th and early 15th centuries. It was abandoned again after the Ottoman conquest in 1449.
The architecture of Albania is a reflection of Albania's historical and cultural heritage. The country's architecture was influenced by its location within the Mediterranean Basin and progressed over the course of history as it was once inhabited by numerous civilisations including the Illyrians, Ancient Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Venetians, Ottomans as well as modern Austro-Hungarians and Italians. In addition, missionaries, invaders, colonisers and traders brought cultural changes that had a large profound effect on building styles as well as techniques.
The Paleokastra Castle is a castle built during late antiquity, located around 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) north of Gjirokastra in the village of Palokastër, in southern Albania. It lies on a river terrace at the confluence between Drino and Kardhiq rivers and occupies a surface area of around 1 hectare.