Castle of Lëkursi

Lëkurës Castle is located among the ruins of the village of Lëkurës, abandoned in 1878, on the top of a high hill that rises in the shape of a pyramid. The castle has an almost square plan 42 m x 44 m, with two rectangular towers on the west wall. Of the towers, the south-east corner tower is better preserved, which reaches a height of 7 m, which reaches the height of the second floor floor, the rectangular tower is located on the west wall. The first floors of the circular towers served as warehouses and were equipped with turrets about 1.20 m apart. From the position of placing the towers it is clear that the direction of control of the Castle was from the sea. The height of the walls reaches 6.70 m – 7 m and the thickness up to 2 m. Leather Castle held a garrison of about 200 soldiers and its construction belongs to Cen. XVI, the possibility of its construction is the year 1537, when Sultan Sulejmani attacked Corfu and it was necessary to control the pier of Saranda and the Saranda-Butrint road, as the latter was attacked by the Venetians. Today, the Castle is preserved in good condition, restored in 1994 – 1995 by the current tenant owners. The walls of the Castle are built of carved stone, bound with lime mortar and reinforced with wooden strips. The height of the walls reaches 6.7m – 7 m and the thickness up to 2 m. The walls were surrounded by a parapet described with turrets for balls, the turrets are 0.50 m high, 0.35 m wide from the inside and 0.04 – 0.06 m wide from the outside, the turrets at the top are covered with stone slabs placed horizontally. The above technique resembles Cen’s houses. XVII – XVIII of Gjirokastra.