Kanina’s Castle

Kaninë Castle (Albanian: Kalaja e Kaninës) is a castle in the village Kaninë near Vlorë, in southern Albania.

The Canine Castle is located on a hill 380m above sea level, six kilometers from the city of Vlora. The perimeter wall is 1 kilometers long and encompasses an area of 3.5 hectares. It is believed to have been constructed there in the fourth century BCE. Throughout the fortification system, there are a number of building stages that span two time periods, the ancient period and the medieval period, particularly Byzantine, Venetian, and Turkish. Justinian restored the fortress in the sixth century, when he constructed or reconstructed 94 strongholds in Epirus. In his list titled Kion, Caesarean Procopon mentions it. In the 12th and 13th centuries, he returned to his position as a military center supporting the Kingdom of Albania and Anzhuine in the Middle Ages. It was also encountered by Sultan Sulejmani in 1530 and Albanian spies from Vlora during the 17th and 19th centuries.

The Kanine Castle is split into three sections by indirect walls. Today, only the wall that divided the highest portion of the hill, which was defended by three towers, remains. According to the testimony of Turkish traveler Evlia Celebiu, there were residential homes, military structures, munitions depots, and water supply steras inside the besieged area. The castle consisted of four gates, one of which connected the tallest (castle) section to the remainder of the structure. Outside the main enclosure, the other gates would open in various directions. One of these entrances is situated on the southern side and is well maintained. It is guarded by a formidable hexagonal tower, has a height of 3.40 meters, a light space of 2.85 meters, and is covered by a sectoral arch. The gate was double-crossed and fastened with catarah from the inside. There are no interior defensive systems, such as galleries covered with seams, etc., or exteriors, barbakanas, at the gates of the Canine castle, as there are in other medieval castles, such as those of Kumanovo. The entrances are straightforward and are protected by a side tower. The forms of the towers that strengthen the walls include round, polygonal, triangular, and square.

Many of the towers, based on their building methods and pattern shapes, reflect various construction eras. As shown in the castles of Kumanovo and Butrint, the oldest structures are the triangular towers, which, because to their diminutive size, also serve as contracts. Two of the seven intact towers of the canine fortress are in the form of a triangle. But the overall number of towers has increased. The castle featured fourteen towers at the time of its publication of a 1688 plan drawing. There are also semicircular towers from an early time, comparable to those on the Acropolis of Butrint. Both semicircular and triangular towers make considerable use of brick and tile pieces, which are set horizontally or randomly amid stone fugues, but notably in triangular towers, where numerous repurposed old stones are found. While polygonal towers are of a later time, they have French balls. The basic shape and building style of these towers match those of the 19th-century lower fortress of Durres Castle. XIII.