Çerçiz Topulli Square

You are standing on Çerçiz Topulli Square, one of the liveliest spots in Gjirokastër. This open space marks a widening of Gjin Zenebisi Street, the main route leading up to the upper town. It’s a natural point of transition, where the modern city gives way to the historic centre, easily recognised by its Ottoman stone houses and winding cobbled lanes. The square is named after Çerçiz Topulli, born here in 1880, a key figure of the Albanian national liberation movement in the early twentieth century. As early as 1906, he helped form the first armed Albanian guerrilla groups, aiming to awaken national awareness and demand greater autonomy from the Ottoman Empire. In 1908, he became widely known after assassinating the Ottoman commander of Gjirokastër, an event followed by the Battle of Mashkullorë, during which he and five companions held off far superior forces before escaping into the mountains, an episode that has remained deeply rooted in popular memory. After Albania declared independence in 1912, he continued to fight to defend the young state and was killed in 1915 in Shkodër during clashes with Montenegrin forces. At the centre of the square stands his bronze statue, created in 1934 by the sculptor Odhise Paskali, showing him in the attire of a fighter and symbolising national resistance. On the pedestal, you can still see the mark of a bullet, said to have been fired by an Italian officer during the Second World War, a gesture that itself has become part of local memory. The square also witnessed tragedy on 17 May 1944, when a grenade thrown into a crowd during a gathering killed seven people, at a time of intense political tension linked to the occupation. Today, Çerçiz Topulli Square is a busy place of movement and meeting, lined with cafés, hotels and banks, a welcoming arrival point for visitors and a natural starting place for exploring the bazaar, the citadel and the historic neighbourhoods of Gjirokastër.