Vushtrri fortress, from prison to summer cinema

Some fortresses are remembered for their battles and others for what people did with them afterwards. Vushtrri’s belongs to the second group. The Ministry of Culture gives it a remarkably long record featuring caravans, prisoners, a volleyball net and a film projector, and that’s how I like to get under a town’s skin.

A tower and a wall

The fortress sits in the middle of the old core on a rectangular plan. It comes in two parts, a two-storey tower to the east and the curtain wall to the west. The wall rests on the ends of the tower’s side walls, so most of the tower actually stands outside the enclosure, an odd detail worth looking for when you arrive. The tower has a square base and, above its two floors, a defensive platform with broad stone merlons; the floors were linked by wooden stairs on the south side.

There were two ways in. A central entrance for carts, probably halfway along the south wall, where it still is, and a pedestrian gate at the eastern end, where the wall meets the tower. The whole thing is built of sandstone and river stone bound with lime mortar.

How old is it?

The Ministry dates it to the 14th century, but its record notes that several historians push it further back. Some speak of the Illyrian-Dardanian period and another of a Byzantine work, citing old foundations that, according to one account it quotes, came to light in 1981 during restoration. What it does date firmly is 1455, when the Ottoman army entered Vushtrri and the fortress passed to Mehmed II; according to a 1973 study, it was damaged in the conquest and rebuilt by the Ottomans for military use.

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Prison, volleyball and films

Long ago it sheltered foreign merchant caravans, and under the Ottomans it was a prison, an arms store and whatever else was needed. It became a prison again between 1918 and 1922. From 1955 to 1960 a volleyball net was strung up inside for training and, from 1955 to 1958, it ran as a cinema and restaurant. The south side, where the projection booth stood, was roofed over, and on the tower’s outer wall you can still see the metal fittings that held the summer cinema screens. Townspeople used it until 1962. In the 1970s the south wall, facing the bazaar and the main street, was shored up in a hurry so stones wouldn’t fall on passers-by.

Restoration and visiting

In 2013 and 2014 it was restored and consolidated with funding from the US Embassy. It has permanent protection, first granted in 1949 and renewed in 2016. The Ministry publishes no opening hours or charge and I haven’t found any visiting rules, so getting inside isn’t guaranteed, though being right in the centre it’s easy to see from outside.

I’d fold it into a walk round the old core. Fortress and the Gazi Ali Bey hammam on one stroll, Vushtrri’s stone bridge about 600 metres away and, if you still fancy more castles, Zvečan fortress further north or the guide to castles and fortresses in Kosovo.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Vushtrri Fortress and pick one that fits your day.

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