Dorëzi Castle

This castle was the control point of the ancient road that connected Durrës, through the Erzen valley, with the Shkumbin valley and all the way to Macedonia. Dorëzi Castle belongs to those fortified settlements that mark the beginning of the urbanization process in the territories known in ancient times as the Kingdom or League (Koinon) of the Parthians. Initially dated as a settlement from the 5th century BC by the first visitor H. Ceka (1948); later dated to the early Iron Age by S. Islami and M. Korkuti, due to the primitive appearance of the walls. Revised based on analysis of construction techniques and plan characteristics, this castle dates roughly to the 7th–6th centuries BC as a proto-urban center. The first impression when visiting Dorëzi Castle is that few traces of antiquity remain preserved. But on the contrary, its walls reveal an interesting history with 4 construction periods covering 1200 years, starting from the 6th century BC to the 6th century AD.