Gjirokaster

Gjirokastër or Gjinokastër , Gr. Argyrokastron, It. Argirocastro, town (1989 pop. 24,207), capital of Gjirokastër dist., S Albania. A commercial center, it produces foodstuffs, leather, and textiles. There are several 18th-century mosques and churches and an old citadel (rebuilt in the 19th cent.) in the town. Dating probably from the 4th cent., Gjirokastër passed to the Turks in the 15th cent. It was captured (1811) by Ali Pasha and was the center (late 1800s) of anti-Turkish resistance. In World War II it was occupied by Italy, Greece, and Germany in succession. Enver Hoxha , the Albanian Communist party leader, was born there.

Gjirokastër, Albania Argyrókastron, Ergeri Said to be named after the Greek Princess Argyro who threw herself from the tower of the citadel (in Greek, kastron), built by the Argyres in the 15th century, rather than surrender to a besieging Turkish army. However, it may simply have been named after the Argyres tribe as the ‘Citadel of the Argyres’. Ergeri was the Ottoman Turkish name. It was occupied by the Greeks, Germans, and Italians, who called it Argirocastro, during the Second World War.