Kulla (Balkan Tower House)

A kulla (Albanian kullë, Serbo-Croatian kula) is a fortified stone tower house found across the western Balkans, especially in northern Albania and the Dukagjini region of Kosovo, with related types in Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The word comes from Arabic qalʿa, "fort", through Persian and Turkish.

Form

Kullas are usually square or rectangular towers of local stone, three or four storeys high (two or three in Kosovo). External walls can be up to 1 m (3.3 ft) thick at ground level, thinning towards the roof, and are pierced by narrow openings (frëngji) that admitted light and air and served as loopholes. The ground floor held storage and livestock, and the upper floors living quarters and rooms for receiving guests. In Kosovo, men lived in the kulla while women and children lived in an adjoining annex, the çardak, with separate entrances and stairs.

The thick stone walls also insulated against the continental climate, keeping interiors cool in summer and warm in winter.

Roofs

For the related Bosnian tower (odžak or kula), roofs were tented, that is pyramidal, and covered with wooden shingles or limestone slabs. In southern Albania, the tall stone houses of Gjirokastër, which UNESCO also describes as kullë, are roofed with flat dressed stones.

History

Fortified towers existed in Gjirokastër in the 13th century. The first Albanian kullas in the Dukagjini region were built in the 17th century, and most surviving Kosovar kullas date from the 18th and 19th centuries, with building continuing into the early 20th century. In Serbia, the Despot Stefan Tower in Belgrade dates from about 1405 and the Nenadović Tower in Valjevo from 1813. In the mountains of northern Albania, "locked towers" (kulla ngujimi), as at Theth, served as refuges for men during blood feuds (gjakmarrja).

Examples

• Kosovo: Jashar Pasha's Tower (Gjakova), Haxhi Zeka's Tower (Peja), Mazrekaj Tower (Junik), Zahir Pajaziti's Tower (Orllan)
• Albania: towers of Theth; tower houses of Gjirokastër and Berat
• Montenegro: Ganić tower house, Rožaje

Sources and gaps

Detailed descriptions of the roofs of Albanian and Kosovar kullas: published information is limited.