Berat, Albania

🇦🇱 Berat is the ninth most populous city of Albania and the seat of Berat County and Berat Municipality. By air, it is 71 km (44 miles) north of Gjirokastër, 70 km (43 miles) west of Korçë, 70 km (43 miles) south of Tirana, and 33 km (21 miles) east of Fier.

Berat is located in the south of the country. It is surrounded by mountains and hills, including Tomorr on the east that was declared a national park. The river Osum (total length 161 km (100 mi)) runs through the city before it empties into the Seman within the Myzeqe Plain. The municipality of Berat was formed at the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities Berat, Otllak, Roshnik, Sinjë, and Velabisht, that became municipal units. The seat of the municipality is the city Berat.

Berat, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008, comprises a unique style of architecture with influences from several civilisations that have managed to coexist for centuries throughout the history. Like many cities in Albania, Berat comprises an old fortified city filled with churches and mosques painted with grandiose wealth of visible murals and frescos. Berat is one of the main cultural centres of the country.

Economy By the 18th century the economy and society of Berat was closely connected to the city's craft guilds partly related to various tax exemptions that existed since the late Middle Ages. By 1750 there were twenty-two guilds, the most important of which were the tanners', the cobblers' and other leather-working guilds. Other guilds included metal-working, silver-smithing and silk-making ones.

Present-day Berat houses Albania's military industry with the nearby Kuçovë base and Poliçan factory as well as a developing tourist economy as of recent years thanks to its historical sites.