Prizren Fortress – Kalaja

Prizren Fortress (Albanian: Каlаја e Prizrenit) is a hilltop fortification in Prizren in Kosovo.

It overlooks the Prizren River which flows through Prizren, which developed around the fortress.

The site of the fortress of Prizren has seen habitation and use since the Bronze Age (ca. 2000). In late antiquity it was part of the defensive fortification system in western Dardania and was reconstructed in the era of eastern Roman Emperor Justinian. Byzantine rule in the region ended definitively in 1219–20 as the Serbian Nemanjić dynasty controlled the fort until 1371. Since 1371, a series of regional feudal rulers came to control Prizren and its fort: the Balšić, the Dukagjini, the Hrebeljanović and finally the Branković, often with Ottoman support. The Ottoman Empire assumed direct control after 1450 and over time turned the fort into a central stronghold in the Eyalet of Rumelia. Much of the modern fortress dates to the 18th century reconstruction phase.

The fortress is situated on a dominant hill at the eastern part of the town of Prizren, set on a strategic position, contoured with lines that follow distinguished features of the terrain’s natural morphology. Archaeological excavations were carried out in 1969 and then again in 2004 and 2009–2011. They resulted in the discovery of the infrastructure, which incorporates rampart walls enforced with towers, casemates, labyrinth corridors, depots, and other accompanying inner rooms and dwellings. It was declared a Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1948.