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32-436: The cathedral was built in the castle of Rozafa in the 13th century, and enlarged in the 14th and 15th centuries while being under Venice possession. In 1319 Don Andrea of Shkodër brought from Ragusa carpenters to assist in the renovation of the area of the church dedicated to the choir. Another renovation is mentioned in 1403 from the then captain general of Shkodër, who brought from Ragusa 5000 tiles to use for coverage of

64-660: A Christian Roman soldier said to have been martyred in Resafa during the Diocletianic Persecution . A church was built to mark his grave, and the city was renamed Sergiopolis . Indeed, it became, after Jerusalem, "most important pilgrimage center in Byzantine Orientis in [the] proto-Byzantine period", with a special appeal to the local Arabs, especially the Ghassanids . By the late 6th century,

96-514: A ceremonial manner of the triumph of Anicius in Rome: In a few days, both on land and sea did he defeat the brave Illyrian tribe, who had relied on their knowledge of their own territory and fortifications. Within the castle there are the ruins of a 13th-century Venetian Catholic church , considered by scholars as the St. Stephen's Cathedral, which after the siege of Shkodër in the 15th century, when

128-630: A church with three apses. Resafa corresponds to the Akkadian Raṣappa and the Biblical Rezeph ( Septuagint ; Koinē Greek : Ράφες ), where it is mentioned in Isaiah 37:12 ; cuneiform sources give Rasaappa, Rasappa, and Rasapi. Ptolemy calls it Rhesapha ( Koinē Greek : Ρεσαφα ). In the late Roman Tabula Peutingeriana , it is called Risapa . In the Notitia dignitatum , it

160-577: A facility is traditionally orally transmitted by Albanians and connected with the construction of the Rozafa Castle. The existence of this Albanian legend is attested as early as 1505, in the work De obsidione Scodrensi , by the Albanian humanist and historian Marin Barleti . The story tells about the initiative of three brothers who set down to build a castle. They worked all day, but

192-508: A great hero, ruler of the world. A well known version of the legend is the Serbian epic poem called The Building of Skadar (Зидање Скадра, Zidanje Skadra ) published by Vuk Karadžić in 1815, after he recorded a folk song sung by a Herzegovinian storyteller named Old Rashko . The three brothers in the legend were represented by members of the noble Mrnjavčević family , Vukašin , Uglješa and Gojko. Furthermore, Dundes states that

224-429: A request: I have but one request to make. When you wall me in, leave a hole for my right eye, for my right hand, for my right foot and for my right breast. I have a small son. When he starts to cry, I will cheer him up with my right eye, I will comfort him with my right hand, I will put him to sleep with my right foot and wean him with my right breast. Let my breast turn to stone and the castle flourish. May my son become

256-519: A rocky hill, 130 metres (430 ft) above sea level, surrounded by the Buna and Drin rivers. Shkodër is the seat of Shkodër County , and is one of Albania's oldest and most historic towns, as well as an important cultural and economic centre. The hill was settled since the Early Bronze Age . The earliest fortification walls are dated to the 4th-3rd century BCE constituting the citadel of

288-674: Is Rosafa . Procopius write that it was called Sergiopolis after the Saint Sergius . The site dates to the 9th century BC, when a military camp was built by the Assyrians . During Roman times, it was a desert outpost fortified to defend against the Sasanian Empire and a station on the Strata Diocletiana . It flourished as its location on the caravan routes linking Aleppo , Dura-Europos , and Palmyra

320-586: Is one of the few buildings from the Middle Ages in Shkodër and is the only mosque that partially survived in Shkodra during the dictatorship of Enver Hoxha , who destroyed all 36 mosques in Shkodër. Rozafa Rozafa Castle ( Albanian : Kalaja e Rozafës ) or Shkodër Castle ( Albanian : Kalaja e Shkodrës ) is a castle near the city of Shkodër , in northwestern Albania . It rises imposingly on

352-604: The qasr  or desert castle category. The city was finally abandoned in the 13th century when the Mongols invaded the area. In the Syrian Civil War , the town was occupied by ISIS, before being liberated by Government forces on 19 June 2017 during the Southern Raqqa Offensive . Sergiopolis's first bishop was appointed shortly after 431 by John of Antioch , in spite of the opposition of

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384-537: The Illyrian city of Skodra , which together with various sites of the lower city, shows the growing and vibrant nature of the Illyrian capital under the Labeatae , especially during the reign of king Gentius . Nevertheless, the visible walls of the castle are mostly of Venetian construction. Although there have been several legends about the etymology of the name Rozafa, scholars have linked it with Resafa ,

416-544: The Ottoman Empire captured the city, was transformed into the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Mosque . The castle has been the site of several famous sieges, including the siege of Shkodër of 1478-79 and the siege of Shkodër of 1912-13 . The castle and its surroundings form an Archaeological Park of Albania. A famous widespread legend about human sacrifice and immurement with the aim of building

448-862: The Ghassanids' tribal Arab ally the Bahra' were tasked with guarding Resafa and its shrine from nomadic marauders and the Lakhmids of Mesopotamia . The city was lost by the Byzantines in the 7th century when the Arabs won the final victory at the Battle of Yarmouk in the year 636. In the eighth century, the Umayyad caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik (r. 724–743) made the city his favoured residence, and built several palaces around it, which are counted among

480-469: The Metropolitan of Hierapolis Bambyce , on whom that church had till then depended. Later, Marianus attended a Council of Antioch . Sergiopolis obtained the title of metropolis from Emperor Anastasius I . With five suffragan sees, it figures in the Notitia episcopatuum of Antioch in the sixth century. A bishop named Sergius or George was an envoy of Justinian to the Lakhmids around 524. At

512-512: The Roman commander. On the third day of the truce, Gentius surrendered to the Romans, was placed in custody and sent to Rome . The Roman army marched north of Scutari Lake where, at Meteon , they captured Gentius' wife queen Etuta , his brother Caravantius, his sons Scerdilaidas and Pleuratus along with leading Illyrians. The fall of the Illyrian kingdom in 168 BC is transmitted by Livy in

544-475: The castle. Only then will the foundations stay put and last forever. The three brothers swore on besa to not speak with their wives of that happened. However the two eldest brothers broke their promise and quietly told their wives everything, while the honest youngest brother kept his besa and said nothing. The mother of the three brothers knew nothing of their agreement, and while the next afternoon at lunch time, she asked her daughters-in-law to bring lunch to

576-482: The character and patriotism of Rozafa, the legendary immured woman. Resafa Resafa ( Arabic : الرصافة , romanized :  Reṣafa ), sometimes spelled Rusafa , and known in the Byzantine era as Sergiopolis ( Greek : Σεργιούπολις or Σεργιόπολις , lit.   ' city of Saint Sergius ' ) and briefly as Anastasiopolis ( Αναστασιόπολις , lit.   ' city of Anastasius ' ),

608-413: The church must have existed the house of the bishop, which is documented since 1251, however, after the 1478-1479 Siege of Shkodra the bishop was no longer allowed to reside in the castle. The Ottomans transformed the church into a mosque in 1685. After that year from the former church's objects the old organon was kept, as a war trophy, within the mosque. When the cathedral became a mosque in 1685, it bore

640-475: The church's roof. The construction typology is similar to that used in the Ratac Abbey , in today Montenegro , which was later built, as well as with a church of Šas . It had a cella , covered by roof, as well as an altar distinguished by crossed vaults . The altar had the only window of the church. There are elements of both Dominican and franciscan type of construction in the cathedral. Close to

672-517: The church. A planned attempt to convert the mosque into its origin, a church with partial U.S. sponsorship was not liked by the Muslim community of Shkodër, and the ambassador of the United States, Ms. Marcy Ries , promised to re-assess the funding of the project. The ruins of this church-mosque feature a Dikka , a Mihrab , and the remains of a large Minaret . The Fatih Sultan Mehmet mosque

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704-508: The fifth general council ( Second Council of Constantinople ) in 553, Abraham signed as metropolitan. The favors of Anastasius obtained for the city the name of Anastasiopolis, which it still retained at the beginning of the seventh century. Bishop Candidus, at the time of the Sassanian Persian siege of the city by Khosrau I (in 543), ransomed 1,200 captives for two hundred pounds of gold, and, in 1093, Metropolitan Simeon restored

736-403: The foundation walls fell down at night. They met a wise old man who seems to know the solution of the problem asking them if they were married. When the three brothers responded positively, the old man said: If you really want to finish the castle, you must swear never to tell your wives what I am going to tell you now. The wife who brings you your food tomorrow you must bury alive in the wall of

768-462: The great Basilica ("Échos d'Orient", III, 238); which attests to the continuing existence of Christianity in Rasafa. The (arch)diocese of Sergiopolis was nominally restored as a Roman Catholic titular bishopric , initially of the lowest (episcopal) rank, and under the curiate name Sergiopolis antea Resapha (having namesakes see Sergiopolis), and had the following incumbents as such: In 1925, it

800-465: The name Gojko is invented. Folklorist Alan Dundes notes that the ballad continued to be admired by generations of folksingers and ballad scholars. The cult of the maternal breasts and the motif of immurement that appear in the Albanian legend of Rozafa are reflections of the worship of the earth mother goddess in Albanian folk beliefs . The local people believe that Rozafa's milk still flows in

832-578: The name of Mehmet the Conqueror Mosque ( Albanian : Xhamia e Mehmet Fatihut ). A minaret was built on the southern side of the former cathedral and, within a niche of the altar, was built a mihrab . Nearby the church, until 1951, has existed a khan (inn), called The Inn of Noka ( Albanian : Hani i Nokës ), which seems to have been built on the foundations of the bishop's house. In 1939 Italian priest and albanologist Giuseppe Valentini suggested ways to perform restoration work on

864-488: The place where Saint Sergius died. Shkodra and the surrounding area have a long and well-documented tradition of venerating Sergius ( Albanian : Shirgji ). The castle is also named after the city of Shkodër (definite Albanian form: Shkodra ). Due to its strategic location, the hill had a prominent role in antiquity . There was an Illyrian stronghold during the rule of the Labeates and Ardiaei , whose capital

896-436: The walls of the stronghold she sacrificed herself to preserve. This is manifested by the native milkweeds flow when their stalks are broken, and limestone stalactites found within the original Illyrian gateway. Limestone deposits are scraped off by local women, and by mixing them with water they obtain a medicine to drink or apply to their breasts in order to increase their milk supply, and so that they can infuse their babies with

928-481: The workers, two of them refused with an excuse. The brothers waited anxiously to see which wife was carrying the basket of food. It was Rozafa, the wife of the youngest brother, who left her younger son at home. Embittered, the youngest brother explained to her what the deal was, that she was to be sacrificed and buried in the wall of the castle so that they could finish building it, and she didn't protest but, worried about her infant son, she accepted being immured and made

960-687: Was Scodra . During the Third Illyrian War the Illyrian king Gentius concentrated his forces in Scodra . When he was attacked by the Roman army led by L. Anicius Gallus , Gentius fled into the city and was trapped there hoping that his brother Caravantius would come at any moment with a large relieving army, but that did not happen. After his defeat, Gentius sent two prominent tribal leaders, Teuticus and Bellus, as envoys to negotiate with

992-522: Was a city located in the Roman province of Euphratensis , in modern-day Syria . It is an archaeological site situated southwest of the city of Raqqa and the Euphrates . Procopius describes at length the ramparts and buildings erected there by Justinian . The walls of Resafa, which are still well preserved, are over 1600 feet in length and about 1000 feet in width; round or square towers were erected about every hundred feet; there are also ruins of

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1024-473: Was ideal. Resafa had no spring or running water, so it depended on large cisterns to capture the winter and spring rains. Resafa was located in the area of the Roman–Persian Wars , and was therefore a well-defended city that had massive walls that surrounded it without a break. It also had a fortress. In the 4th century, it became a pilgrimage town for Christians coming to venerate Saint Sergius ,

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