Rozafa Castle, surrounded by Buna and Drini rivers is one of the major castles in Albania located in Shkodra, southwestern Albania. It rises on a rocky hill, 130 meters above the sea level and it is a monumental testament to the beauty of an everlasting fortress. The castle dates back to Illyrian times and Latin historian Titus Livius called it "stronghold of the Labeats" (Illyrian tribe on the shores of Lake Shkodra). Illyrian queen, Teuta, used it as a base in the wars against Rome.
In the Middle Ages was appeared for first time the name Rozafa which is linked to the legend ‘of the kept promise’. According to the legend, Rozafa, the wife of the youngest of three brothers, accepted to be buried alive in the walls of the castle. The brothers had been building the castle in the day only to find that the walls had collapsed during the night. Rosafa, was worried about her infant son, though accepted being walled on condition that they must leave her right breast exposed so as to feed her newborn son, her right eye to see him, her right hand to caress him, and her right foot to rock his cradle.
The castle assumed the shape it has today from the time of the Balsha family rule in the 14th century. The remaining walls, most of them, belong to the Venetian period. There are also traces of the Ottoman times (16th and 17th centuries) and the Bushatlli period (18th and 19th centuries). The walls of the Rozafa castle are 880 meters long and encircle an area of nine hectares. Inside the castle there are also some other objects of interest including the water tanks from the 15th century and the 13th century chapel, which after the Ottoman occupation was turned into a mosque.