10 July 2008 | The historic centre of the town of Berat in central Albania was recently included in UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

This is the second site in Albania added to the list, after the town of Gjirokastër, dictator Enver Hoxha’s birthplace, which was inscribed in 2005.

Berat is also known as the Town of a Thousand Windows, due to the many large windows of the old decorated houses overlooking the town.

Unlike the remnants of Albania’s more recent communist past that constitute part of the tourist attractions in Gjirokastër, Berat’s attraction lies in its more distant history.

“Berat was inscribed as a rare example of a well-preserved Ottoman town,” according to UNESCO’s official publication and it “bears witness to the coexistence of various religious and cultural communities down the centuries.”

The town boasts a castle, locally known as the Kala, most of which was built in the thirteenth century, although its origins date back to the fourth century BC. The citadel area includes many Byzantine, some of which contain valuable wall paintings and icons, mainly from the thirteenth century.

The settlement also contains several mosques built under Turkish occupation which started in 1417, as well as several houses for religious communities, notably some used by Sufi brotherhoods in the eighteenth century.