The ancient city of Butrint, located in southern Albania, is an oasis of rich cultural history and Mediterranean biodiversity, a priceless asset of UNESCO-protected Cultural Heritage, where the monuments of human history and the natural environment wonderfully intertwine.
The National Park encompasses a variety of natural beauties and values, Mediterranean forests and scrub, cultivated fields, terraces with fruit trees, as well as coastal waters with sandy and rocky shores, open lands, habitats that shelter a great diversity of animals and plants of national and global importance, which make Butrint one of the most important areas for biodiversity in Albania.
The ancient city of Butrint was first declared a Cultural Monument in 1948. In 1999 it was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List; in 2003 the wetland complex, including the lagoon part and the coastal area of Butrint – Cape Stillo – were declared a Ramsar Site and a National Park (IUCN Category II for the Management of Protected Areas Category). Due to its importance for preserving cultural and archaeological heritage, Butrint became part of the UNESCO World Heritage List, and this protected area constitutes an area of 2900 ha, which includes landscapes of cultural importance, archaeological settlements.
In addition to the well-known Mediterranean species, the park shelters 16 endangered species of flora and 14 endangered species of fauna. Lake Butrint, surrounded by forested shores, mountains, water and brackish marshes, is connected to the Strait of Corfu by the Vivari Channel.
The archaeological remains are part of a natural forest with a complex ecosystem, which depends on the waters near Lake Butrint and the Vivari Canal that drains the lake into the Ionian Sea.
Butrint is a microcosm of Mediterranean history, presenting over 2000 years of history from Hellenic temples of the 4th century BC to Ottoman forts of the early 19th century.
According to scholars of classical mythology, Buthrotum was built by exiles who fled after the fall of Troy. Mythology tells that upon arrival, Priam's son, Helenus, sacrificed a bull, which writhed wounded and died on the shore. The place was called Buthrotum, which means "wounded bull." Later, Virgil's epic poem, the Aeneid, tells of Aeneas visiting Butrint on his way to Italy, at which time the place was fortified with a large wall with five gates.
During the reign of Julius Caesar, a colony was established there and Roman veterans were settled, while Emperor Augustus doubled the area of the city where new buildings were built, such as Roman baths, several houses, the forum, and the nymphaeum.
In the 3rd century AD a large part of the city was destroyed by an earthquake, which brought about the permanent decline of Butrint. In the early 6th century, Buthrotum became a bishopric with new buildings including a large baptistery (one of the largest early Christian buildings of its type) and a basilica.
Butrint was ruled by the Byzantines and was a strategic point on the Adriatic-Ionian sea routes, fought over by the Venetians and Ottomans, until Albania declared its Independence in 1912.
