Skanderbeg Memorial

Gjergj Kastrioti, better known as Skanderbeg, was an Albanian nobleman that led a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century and is now regarded as a national hero.

In 1444 Skanderbeg founded the League of Lezhë, an alliance of noble Albanian families to fight against the Ottomans. This event started a long resistence against the Ottoman Empire that lasted even after his death in 1468. The feats of Skanderbeg are celebrated in many places around Albania but the greatest of all the monuments dedicated to the hero may be his mausoleum located in Lezhë.

The building was originally the Church of Saint Nicholas and it was the burial ground of Skanderbeg. After the end of the rebellion, the Ottomans took the city and plundered the church, destroying the grave and making amulets with the bones, believing that these would confer bravery on those who wore them. The actual remains of Skanderbeg were thus lost.

The church was turned into a mosque but it was almost completely destroyed when, during the Hoxha dictatorship, all the mosques in Lezhë were demolished. In 1981 the now ruined structure was restored by tearing down the minaret and a new grandiose mausoleum dedicated to Skanderbeg was edificated over the old cathedral.