This year’s tourist season is not only attracting the attention of visitors to the wonderful Albanian coast, but also with the historical and cultural sites. The Museum at Rozafa Castle Museum in Shkodër has become a regular destination for local and foreign tourists.

It displays objects belonging to Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and the Roman mosaic of the 4th century AD. The museum also shows objects belonging to the period of the Ottoman conquest, and a model of the castle too. The model represents the area around the castle during the 18th century, when Shkodër was the center of the Bushati pashalik, an administrative unit in the Ottoman Empire.

The head of the museum, Ndriçim Mlika, says that the number of the visitors has increased during this season.

“June noted a 32 percent increase of visitors, and July a 25 percent, taking into account the extremly high temperatures. More than half of the foreigners are French,” said Mlika.

“I come from Berat and I am married to an Arbëresh [Italian of old Albanian origin] and I live in Germany. Today I brought my girls to see Albanian history,” says a tourist from Berat.

“It is very beautiful. They should continue to keep it like this. There should be even more tourism, interested in our history,” adds another citizen.

The figures published by the Regional Directorate of Cultural Heritage of Shkodër for the month of July show that the city’s castle was visited by 12,912 visitors. During ther same period of last year, the figure was 11,640 visitors.

/a.p./