Berat County

The County of Berat (Albanian: Qarku i Beratit) is one of the 12 counties of Albania. It consists of the districts Berat, Kuçovë, and Skrapar and its capital is Berat. Berat lies on the right bank of the river Osum, a short distance from the point where it is joined by the Molisht river. It is remarkable Ottoman town, with a wealth of beautiful buildings of the highest architectural and historical interest. The pine forests above the city, on the slopes of the towering Tomori mountains, provide a backdrop of appropriate grandeur. The Osumi river has cut a 915-metre deep gorge through the limestone rock on the west side of the valley to form a precipitous natural fortress, around which the town was built on several river terraces. According to legend, the Tomorr mountain was originally a giant, who fought with another giant, called Shpirag over a young woman. They killed each other and the girl drowned in her tears, which then became the Osum river. Mount Shpirag, named after the second giant, is on the left bank of the gorge, above the district of Gorica. Berati is known to Albanians as 'The City of a Thousand Windows' a similar epithet to that sometimes applied to Gjirokastra, The City of Two Thousand Steps, and has a mixture of Orthodox, Muslim and Vlach inhabitants. It was proclaimed a 'Museum City' by the dictator Enver Hoxha in June 1961, and is a UNESCO World Heritage City.