Mirdita (Albanian: Mirditë) is a municipality in Lezhë County, Northeastern Albania, about 85 km north of Tirana. It has about 27,000 people (2011).

Understand

It contains a number of towns including Rrëshen and Rubik.

The region is known as a stronghold of Albanian nationalism and devout Catholicism.

1 Infokulla Mirdita (Mirdita Information Center and Museum), Rruga e Kombit, ☏ +355695602970, info.kulla@bashkiamirdite.gov.al. Daily 09:00 - 17:00. Open in November 2017, the Infokulla provides free tourist information for the local area, and a museum on the history and wildlife of the region. Museum: 200 lekë. (updated Jun 2018)

History

Fan River Canyon

The Republic of Mirdita was a short-lived unrecognized republic declared in northern Albania by Marka Gjoni and his followers. It existed between 17 July and 20 November 1921. Gjoni led his Roman Catholic Mirditë tribesmen in a rebellion against the Albanian regency and parliament established after the World War I. The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia), and its newly enthroned King Aleksandar Karadjordjevic, backed Gjoni based on its interest of having another separatist region within Albania, weakening the newly created Albanian state and sharpening the religious antagonism.

Gjoni proclaimed in Prizren the founding of an independent Republic of Mirdita. Gjoni was the only president of the republic. As the republic violated the sovereignty of the Albanian state, Albanian government troops fought and eventually extinguished the republic. The putative government of the republic was overrun by the Albanian government, though no real persecution fell on the main leaders.

Gjoni fled to Yugoslavia, but later returned to Albania and remained active in the political life of the highlands until his death in 1925.

Sleep

• 1 Hotel Marub, Katund i Vjeter, Rubik, ☏ +355 68 207 7424. In a forested valley surrounded by mountains, Hotel Marub provides eco-friendly accommodation and an organic locally sourced restaurant. (updated Jun 2018)
• 2 Baven-Toven Naturae, ☏ +355 68 590 2595. A place to relax and enjoy the mountain landscape. (updated Jun 2018)