Libohovë Explained

Type:m
Libohovë
Emblem:Stema e Bashkisë Libohovë.svg
Skyline:Libohova.jpg
Caption:Main street of Libohovë
County:Gjirokastër
Mayor:Leonard Hide
Party:PS
Coordinates:40.0333°N 36°W
Elevation:408
Area Munic:248.42
Population As Of:2011
Population Munic:3667
Population Unit:1992
Postal Code:6003
Area Code:(0)881

Libohovë (Albanian: Libohova) is a town and a municipality in southern Albania. It is overlooked by Libohovë Castle and has a main street with views across the Drino valley. Libohovë is at the foot of the Bureto Mountain. The region forms part of the Zagori Regional Nature Park[1] located in Zagori region.

The municipality was formed at the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities Libohovë, Qendër Libohovë and Zagori, that became municipal units. The seat of the municipality is the town Libohovë.[2] The total population is 3,667 (2011 census),[3] in a total area of 248.42 km2.[4] The population of the former municipality at the 2011 census was 1,992.[3]

History

The archaeological evidence indicates a very ancient settlement which reached its zenith in the seventeenth century. It may be the exact site of present Dropull's former Catholic Diocese of Hadrianopolis in Epiro.[5] In the late seventeenth century, the Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi passed through Libohovë noting it was inhabited by Muslim Albanians and had 200 houses, a mosque, prayer house, inn and small bathhouse.[6] Between 1796 and 1798 the Libohovë Castle was built in the city. In the early nineteenth century during the rule of Ali Pasha, British diplomat William Martin Leake during his journey from Vlorë to Gjirokastra and later to present-day Greece, in his diary describes his arrival on December 26, 1804, in the region of Derópoli, or Dropull as it was known from the local Albanians. According to him, Libohovë, then part of the same region, numbered about 1000 Muslim families and 100 Christian families.[7]

It is the home of a well-known Albanian noble family, which shares its name with the town. Prior to the communist era they held considerable sway over the country's politics. The castle is a substantial fortress with four polygonal corner towers and a curtain wall surrounding a wide courtyard. The sister of Ali Pasha of Tepelenë, Shanica, married one of the most important members of the Libohovë family and the castle was the dowry that Ali Pasha presented to her. In the town centre was an old plane tree around which a bar-restaurant has been built. Also in the centre is the house of Myfit (Bey) Libohovë (1876–1927), a renowned politician, the first minister of internal affairs and foreign affairs serving in the Albanian Government of 1912.

During the interwar period (twentieth century) Libohovë was a well-watered, large and wealthy settlement located among extensive groves containing 500 houses, its inhabitants spoke Albanian and were mostly Muslim. Libohovë was a centre for the Muslim Sufi Bektashi order with several tekkes located in Dropull.[8] According to the Albanian census of 1989, members of the Greek minority also live in the town.[9] Muslims formed most of Libohovë's population in the late twentieth century.[10] A small settlement, Libohovë is a centre of Sufi Bektashism.[11]

Places of interest

Notable locals

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Parku natyror i Zagorisë, me një plan menaxhimi të avancuar | Agjencia Telegrafike Shqiptare . December 3, 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20151208045758/http://www.ata.gov.al/parku-natyror-i-zagorise-me-nje-plan-menaxhimi-te-avancuar-344226.html . December 8, 2015 .
  2. Web site: Law nr. 115/2014 . sq . 6371. 25 February 2022 .
  3. Web site: Population and housing census – Gjirokastër 2011 . 2019-09-25 . .
  4. Web site: Correspondence table LAU – NUTS 2016, EU-28 and EFTA / available Candidate Countries . 2019-09-25 . Eurostat. XLS .
  5. Web site: Titular See of Hadrianopolis in Epiro, Albania.
  6. Book: Robert Dankoff. Dankoff. Robert. Elsie. Robert. Evliya Çelebi in Albania and Adjacent Regions: Kossovo, Montenegro, Ohrid. 2000. Brill. 9789004116245. 91. "We continued westwards from Delvinaki for 6 hours and arrived at the village of Libohova. It is on the border of the kadi-district of Gjirokastër at the foot of a mountain with flowing water, like the fabled garden of Irem. It consists of 200 houses with slate roofs and is inhabited by Albanians, who are, however, Muslims. It has a congregational mosque, a prayer house, a han and a small bathhouse."
  7. Book: Martin Leake, William. Travels in Northern Greece. Rodwell & Martin. December 1835. 9781108020114. 1. New Bond Street, London. 25.
  8. Book: Hammond, Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière. Epirus: the Geography, the Ancient Remains, the History and Topography of Epirus and Adjacent Areas. 1967. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 9780198142539. 29. "Libohovë, with some 500 houses, is also a religious centre of the progressive Bektashi sect of Muslims and there were several heroa (teke) with Dervishes in Dhropul during the years between the two World Wars."; p.207 "On the Albanian side the largest and richest village is Libohovë (500 houses), which is situated among the extensive groves and is well watered in contrast to Agyrokastro. The population is almost entirely Mohammedan." p. 209. "Whereas Libohovë and the village north of it are Albanian in speech,"
  9. Book: Österreichisches Ost-und Südosteuropa-Institut . Peter . Jordan . Walter . Lukan . Albanien: Geographie – historische Anthropologie – Geschichte – Kultur – postkommunistische Transformation . 2003 . Lang . 978-3-631-39416-8 . 37 . de . Die Gruppe der Griechen, die nace der Volkszahlung 1989... Die dort am dichtesten mit Griechen bewohnten ländlichen Gebiete sind die von Dropull, Rëza e zezë und Pogon im Kreis von Gjirokastër, sowie Vurgu im Kreis von Delvinë – Sarandë. Ein Teil der griechischen Minderheit im Suden des landes lebt heute aber in Städten wie Gjirokastër, Libohovë, Delvinë und Sarandë . ... Korce..
  10. de Rapper. Gilles. Sintès. Pierre. February 2008. Faire et défaire les frontières du mariage. Échanges matrimoniaux entre la Grèce et l'Albanie: le cas de la région de Gjirokastër. Centre Jacques Berque. Tangier. Vivre et tracer les frontières dans les mondes contemporains. 5. 7 February 2022. "à la ville de Libohovë, peuplée majoritairement de musulmans"
  11. Book: Clayer, Natalie. Saints and Sufis in post-Communist Albania. Masatoshi. Kisaichi. Popular Movements and Democratization in the Islamic World. 2006. Routledge. 9781134150618. https://books.google.com/books?id=1zxeWxCAkokC&q=+Libohova+and+Lazarat%2C+two+small+localities+which+are+strongholds+of+Bektashism+in+the+area+of+Gjirokastra&pg=PA36. 36.

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