Krujë

Krujë is a town and municipality in north central Albania Durres County, about 20 kilometers north of the capital Tirana, sitting at an elevation of 600 meters on the slopes of Mount Krujë above the plain of the Ishem River. It became the capital of the first Albanian state in the Middle Ages in 1190 and later served as capital of the Kingdom of Albania, and it is best known as the center of Skanderbeg's 15th century resistance against Ottoman rule, successfully withstanding four Ottoman sieges between 1450 and 1477. According to the 2023 census the municipality had 51,191 residents, though the town's own administrative unit counted 8,921. Krujë's Skanderbeg Museum, established in 1982, and its national ethnographic museum both commemorate the town's medieval and cultural heritage.