Dajti Castle

Dajti Castle is a 1.12 hectares archaeological site in Albania, comprising the ruins of a Roman fortification and several dwellings. It belongs to late antiquity, probably having been built over Illyrian foundations. It lies at 1,200 metres altitude on top of a hill, west-side of Mount Dajti, close to Tirana. It was discovered in 1963 and eventually was inscribed in the list of the Cultural Monuments of Albania. In 2008 a three-year restoration project began, aiming to conduct further archaeological searching and surveys and to improve the nearby infrastructure for visitors and tourists.
According to the archaeological material, construction and the analysis carried on site, the castle of Dajti is thought to date back to the late antiquity in the 6th century. Procopius of Caesarea in his panegyric work Buildings of Justinian writes that the East Roman Emperor Justinian I "...built 32 castles and reconstructed 26 others in Epirus Nova, in order to protect it from the Slavic attacks". He also mentioned the castle Tirkan, the probable origin of Albania capital's name Tirana, dating back to 1st century BC and lying on Dajti's mountainside, which might be Tujani Castle, on a much lower altitude than Dajti castle.

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