Berat

Etymology

The name Berat has been derived through Albanian sound changes from the Old Slavonic language Bělgrad (Бѣлградъ) or Belgrád / Beligrad (Белград / Белиград), meaning "White City".

It is believed to have been the site of the ancient city Antipatreia (Ancient Greek: Ἀντιπάτρεια, "City of Antipater") or Antipatrea in Latin, while during the early Byzantine Empire the name of the town was Pulcheriopolis (Byzantine Greek: Πουλχεριόπολις, "City of Pulcheria").

It was recorded in Medieval Latin as Belogradum, Bellegradum, in Turkish as Belgrad and in Italian as Belgrado. In the Republic of Venice the city was known as Belgrado di Romania ("Rumelian Belgrade"), while in the Ottoman Empire it was also known as Belgrad-i Arnavud ("Albanian Belgrade") to distinguish it from Belgrade in Serbia.

Today, in Aromanian, Berat is known as Birat.

History

Early development

Ceramic finds from the 7th century BCE initially attest to a settlement of the rocky hill of Berat by the Illyrians. Berat has been identified with ancient Antipatrea. Probably since the mid-4th century BCE the Illyrians went through a dynamic development, founding their own cities like Dimale and Byllis; however it is uncertain whether this development among Illyrians involved also Berat, or whether the foundation of the city is to be attributed to Cassander of Macedon. The founding date is unknown, although if Cassander is the founder, it would date back after he took control of southern Illyria around 314 BCE.

Antipatrea was involved in the Illyrian Wars and Macedonian Wars, and it is mentioned as a city of Dassaretia in southern Illyria. Along with Chrysondyon, Gertous and Creonion, Antipatrea was one of the Dassaretan towns around which the Illyrian dynast Skerdilaidas and the Macedonian king Philip V fought in 217 BCE. The city eventually was conquered by Philip V until Roman intervention. Antipatrea was described as the largest settlement with significant walls and referred to as the only urbs in the area, in contrast with other settlements that were described as castella or oppida. As reported by Roman historian Livy, in 200 BCE the Roman legatus Lucius Apustius "stormed and subdued Antipatrea by force of arms and, after killing the men of military age and granting all the plunder to the soldiers, he demolished the walls and burned the city". In Roman times it was included within Epirus Nova, in the province of Macedonia. The town became part of the unstable frontier of the Byzantine Empire following the fall of the western Roman Empire and, along with much of the rest of the Balkan Peninsula, it suffered from repeated invasions by Slavs. During the Roman and early Byzantine period, the city was known as Pulcheriopolis.

The First Bulgarian Empire under Presian I captured the town in the 9th century, and the city received the Slavic name Bel[i]grad ("White City"), which persisted throughout the medieval period, changing to Berat under Ottoman rule. The town became one of the most important towns in the Bulgarian region Kutmichevitsa. The Bulgarian governor Elemag surrendered the city to the emperor Basil II in 1018, and the city remained in Byzantine hands until the Second Bulgarian Empire retook the city in 1203 during the rule of Kaloyan. During the 13th century, it fell to Michael I Ducas, the ruler of the Despotate of Epirus.

Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos sent letters to the Albanian leaders of Berat and Durrës in 1272 asking them to abandon their alliance with Charles I of Naples, leader of the Kingdom of Albania, who had captured and incorporated it at the same period in the Kingdom of Albania. However, they passed the letters on to Charles as a sign of their loyalty.

Modern period

During the early period of Ottoman rule, Berat fell into severe decline. By the end of the 16th century it had only 710 houses. However, it began to recover by the 17th century, and became a major craft centre specializing in wood carving.

During the first part of the sixteenth century, Berat was a Christian city and did not contain any Muslim households. The urban population of this period (1506–1583) increased little, with the addition of 17 houses. Following their expulsion and arrival from Spain, a Jewish community existed in Berat that consisted of 25 families between 1519 and 1520.

Toward the latter part of the sixteenth century, Berat contained 461 Muslim houses and another 187 belonged to newcomers from the surrounding villages of Gjeqar, Gjerbës, Tozhar, Fratar, and Dobronik. Conversion to Islam of the local urban population in Berat had increased during this time and part of the newcomer population were also Muslim converts who had Islamic names and Christian surnames. Factors such as tax exemptions for Muslim urban craftsmen in exchange for military service drove many of the incoming rural first generation Muslim population to Berat. Followers of Sabbatai Zevi existed in Berat among Jews during the mid-seventeenth century. The Berat Jewish community took an active role in the welfare of other Jews, such as managing to attain the release of war-related captives present in Durrës in 1596.

By the early seventeenth century, urban life in Berat started to resemble Ottoman and Muslim patterns. From 1670 onward, Berat became a Muslim-majority city and of its 30 neighbourhoods, 19 were populated by Muslims. Factors attributed to the change of the urban religious composition in Berat was pressure to covert in some neighbourhoods, and a lack of Christian priests able to provide religious services.

In the 18th century, Berat was one of the most important Albanian cities during the Ottoman period.

In the early modern era the city was the capital of the Pashalik of Berat founded by Ahmet Kurt Pasha. Berat was incorporated in the Pashalik of Yanina after Ibrahim Pasha of Berat was defeated by Ali Pasha in 1809. In 1867, Berat became a sanjak in Janina vilayet. Berat replaced a declining Vlorë as the centre of the sanjak (province) in the nineteenth century. The sanjak of Berat and the city itself were under the dominance of the Albanian Vrioni family. The Jewish community of Yanina renewed the Jewish community of Berat in the nineteenth century.

Geography

Berat lies on the right bank of the river Osum, a short distance from the point where it is joined by the Molisht river. The old city centre consists of three parts: Kalaja (on the castle hill), Mangalem (at the foot of the castle hill) and Gorica (on the left bank of the Osum). It has a number of buildings of architectural and historical interest. The pine forests above the city, on the slopes of the towering Tomorr mountains, provide a backdrop of appropriate grandeur. The Osumi river has cut a 915-metre deep gorge through the limestone rock on the west side of the valley to form a precipitous natural fortress, around which the town was built on several river terraces.

According to an Albanian legend, the Tomorr mountain was originally a giant, who fought with another giant (mountain) called Shpirag over a young woman. They killed each other and the girl drowned in her tears, which then became the Osum river.

Mount Shpirag, named after the second giant, is on the left bank of the gorge, above the district of Gorica. Berat is known to Albanians as the city of "One above another Windows" (a similar epithet is sometimes applied to Gjirokastra), or The City of Two Thousand Steps. It was proclaimed a 'Museum City' by the dictator Enver Hoxha in June 1961.

Climate

Berat has a Mediterranean climate (Csa) under the Köppen climate classification. Summers are characterised as hot and dry with a maximum average of 28.2 °C (82.8 °F) in July. Conversely, winter brings mild and wet weather with an average of 7.2 °C (45.0 °F) in January. The lowest minimum temperature recorded in Berat was estimated at −12.2 °C (10.0 °F) and its highest maximum temperature at 47.1 °C (116.8 °F).

Economy

By the 18th century the economy and society of Berat was closely connected to the city's craft guilds partly related to various tax exemptions that existed since the late Middle Ages. By 1750 there were twenty-two guilds, the most important of which were the tanners', the cobblers' and other leather-working guilds. Other guilds included metal-working, silver-smithing and silk-making ones.

Present-day Berat houses Albania's military industry with the nearby Kuçovë base and a disused Poliçan factory as well as a developing tourist economy as of recent years thanks to its historical sites.

Culture

Landmarks

The coexistence of religious and cultural communities over several centuries, beginning in the 4th century BC into the 18th century is apparent in Berat. The town also bears testimony to the architectural excellence of traditional Balkan housing construction, which date to the late 18th and the 19th centuries. Some of the landmarks of that historical period could be seen in the Berat Castle, churches of the Byzantine era such as the Church of St. Mary of Blaherna (13th century), the Bachelors' Mosque, the National Ethnographic Museum, the Sultan's Mosque (built between 1481 and 1512), Leaden Mosque (built in 1555) and the Gorica Bridge.

Berat Castle is built on a rocky hill on the right bank of the river Osum and is accessible only from the south. After being burned down by the Romans in 200 BC the walls were strengthened in the 5th century under Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II, and were rebuilt during the 6th century under the Emperor Justinian I and again in the 13th century under the Despot of Epirus, Michael Komnenos Doukas, cousin of the Byzantine Emperor. The main entrance, on the north side, is defended by a fortified courtyard and there are three smaller entrances. The surface that the fortress encompasses made it possible to house a considerable portion of the town's inhabitants. The buildings inside the fortress were built during the 13th century and because of their characteristic architecture are preserved as cultural monuments. The population of the fortress was Christian, and it had about 20 churches (most built during the 13th century) and only one mosque, for the use of the Muslim garrison, (of which there survives only a few ruins and the base of the minaret). The churches of the fortress have been damaged through the years and only some remain.

The Church of St. Mary of Blachernae dating from the 13th century, has 16th century mural paintings by Nikollë Onufri, son of the most important post-medieval Albanian painter, Onufri. In a small tree - planted square, on a hillside inside the walls of the fortress, stands the 14th century Church of the Holy Trinity. It is built in the form of a cross and has Byzantine murals. Outside the ramparts is the Church of St. Michael (Shën Mehill), built in the 13th century. This church is reached by a steep but perfectly safe path. Near the entrance, after a guardhouse, is the little Church of St. Theodore (Shen Todher), which have wall paintings by Onufri himself. The most interesting is the cathedral of St. Nicholas, which has been well restored and is now a museum dedicated to Onufri. Onufri was the greatest of the 16th century painters in Albania. Not only was he a master of the techniques of fresco and icons, but he was the first to introduce a new colour in painting, shiny red, which the French called "Onufri's Red". In addition, Onufri introduced a certain realism and a degree of individuality in facial expression.

Education

In addition to secondary schools, the city hosted the Albanian University in Berat, a private institution that terminated its programs in 2019.

Sports

The football (soccer) club is KS Tomori Berat.

Twin towns – sister cities

Berat is twinned with:

Municipal Council

Following the 2023 local elections, the composition of the Council of Berat is as follows:

Notable people

Omer Pasha Vrioni II - Albanian ruler from one of the most powerful Albanian families of the 19th century, modern founder of the city Fier.

Babë Dudë Karbunara - Teacher and politician. One of the signatories of the Albanian Declaration of Independence.

Christopher of Albania - Primate of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania from 1937 to 1948.

Eni Koçi - Singer.

Sotir Kolea - Folklorist, Diplomat and activist of the Albanian National Awakening.

Afërdita Veveçka Priftaj - Physicist.

Myrto Uzuni - Professional footballer; winger for Spanish club Granada and the Albania national football team.

Aziz Vrioni - Ottoman-Albanian politician.

Iliaz Vrioni - Politician and land owner; served as Prime Minister of Albania three times.

Isuf Vrioni - Translator, diplomat, and Albanian ambassador to UNESCO.

Omer Vrioni - Ottoman-Albanian figure in the Greek War of Independence.

Sami Bey Vrioni - Politician, diplomat.

Dhimitër Tutulani - Lawyer and Politician.

Kasëm Trebeshina - Partisan, communist prosecutor, actor, and writer.

Margarita Tutulani - Anti-fascist activist of Albania during World War II.