The article, in the paradigm of cultural studies, examines the role of the fortress-museum of Gjirokastra in the social life and cultural memory of the Albanians of the Balkans at the beginning of the 21st century. Erected on the site of an ancient fortification, the citadel was first mentioned in written sources in the 14th century, then it was rebuilt many times and appears today as a cultural monument included, together with the historical city, in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List. For Albanians, the fortress is of exceptional importance not only as a complex that is included in the top list of world monuments (which includes only one more museum city in Albania, Berat), but also as a significant center of ethnic (related to the people), national (directly associated with state ideology) and regional (important for all the Balkans) culture.
Gjirokastra; fortress; historical memory; folk culture; folk festival; museumification