The Tower of Avdullah Pasha Dreni

The tower of Avdullah Pasha Dreni is located at the entrance of the Great Bazaar, near which there are also the Tombstone of the League of Prizren, the Teqeja of Sheh Emin, the House of Sulejman Vokshi, the Tower of Koshi, the Tomb of Maxharr Pasha, which constitute an ensemble of precious cultural heritage.
This three-story tower is supposed to have been built in 1790 and served as a residential house and fortification as evidenced by the large number of Frenchmen on all three floors of the tower.
In addition to architectural values, this building also has historical importance, because Marshal Mehmet Ali Pasha was killed here, who, by order of the Sultan, had arrived in Gjakova to force the Albanians to hand over to Montenegro and Serbia the Albanian territories that were decided at the Congress of Berlin (1878).
The branch of the Albanian League in Gjakovë invited its forces of several thousand fighters, who settled in the houses of the city with the help of the population that gave them help for food, production of ammunition and treatment of the wounded.
After unsuccessful talks in the besieged palace of Abdullah Pasha Dreni, the fighting began, which lasted with some interruptions from September 1-6, 1878, in which several hundred people were killed by the two parties, including the besieged, Mehmet Ali Pashen and Abdullah Pasha Dreni.
On March 3, 1973, in this tower, the regional Museum in Gjakovë began its regular work, with the aim of collecting, processing, preserving and exhibiting museum material.
The history sector preserves material such as documents, photographs, weapons and clothing from the period of the Albanian National Renaissance and in particular the League of Prizren as well as from later periods.
This tower has architectural values. The building material and technique consists of natural stones and baked bricks. The tower has many windows, mostly small in terms of construction, and there is also a large number of French shot holes, some 58, which means that the tower, in addition to serving as a residence, also served as a fortification. This tower has three floors, where the ground floor is built of stone, while the other floors are built of baked bricks.