The bazaar square
Cafés and restaurants on the cobbles.
SualdoDino — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Marmontel — CC BY 2.0 · Sali Jonuzi — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Inac123 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Joergsam — CC BY-SA 3.0
Korçë's Old Bazaar (Pazari i Vjetër) is the historic market quarter west of the city centre: about two hectares of cobbled lanes and squares lined with mostly two-storey stone shop-houses. ICOMOS Albania's 2002 report called this first-category cultural monument the best-preserved Balkan bazaar of its type and period. Its roots go back to the 1490s, when Iljaz Bey Mirahori founded the town around his mosque, since an Ottoman town needed a Friday mosque and a market. Trade grew once nearby Voskopojë, a merchant town, was destroyed in the late 1700s. Rebuilt in stone after an 1879 fire, the bazaar peaked around 1900: the municipality records about a thousand shops, merchants from as far as Venice and Trieste, and inns (hans) for travellers. It faded under communism and was restored in the 1970s and 1980s and again in 2013–2017. Its cafés, restaurants and craft shops come alive in the evening. Look for the old shop fronts, with tall, narrow windows behind iron grilles, and the Elbasan Inn (Hani i Elbasanit), a merchants' inn with a galleried courtyard, converted into a hotel around 2018. Older Albanians remember the quarter as the Bazaar of the Serenades, and its square hosts concerts. Wandering is free; allow an hour or two with a coffee or a meal. As the crow flies, the Mirahori Mosque and a rebuilt clock tower stand about 200 m south, and the Resurrection Cathedral about 560 m east. At the mosque, cover shoulders and knees, remove your shoes, women cover their hair, and avoid prayer times, especially Friday midday prayer.
Cafés and restaurants on the cobbles.
An old merchants' inn, converted into a hotel around 2018.
Tall windows behind iron grilles.
West of the city centre, by the Mirahori Mosque, Korçë
Inns for travelling merchants: horses and goods were kept in the courtyard and on the ground floor, and guests slept in rooms off a wooden gallery above. Many were named after their guests' home town or region, such as Elbasan or Voskopojë, and only some survive.
From Korçë's serenatas, romantic songs sung to guitar and mandolin under balconies and in cafés, which older Albanians link with these cobbled lanes. The tradition lives on: in September 2025 the Serenight festival held its closing gala on the bazaar's stage.
