Ports, castles and ruins: A narrative for the cultural landscape of Ulcinj and Shkodra

Opis

[EN] Both into the other parts of the Mediterranean Sea and but also further inside the mainland. Ulcinj’s highly prominent role in the maritime heritage of the Mediterranean, both as a port and later a fortified castle, has been studied and well documented. However, its relationship with the mainland is, for the lack of a better word, bland of a creative understanding of its potential as a cultural landscape. This paper therefore, aims to study this relationship with a focus on Ulcinj and its surrounding mainland in an attempt to narrate a landscape story that is anchored within the archaeological materiality and the natural elements in a progressively developing system, with the Buna River acting as its backbone. The connection of Ulcinj and Shkodra through the Buna River is an important segment not only as a historical trade route but also as a progressive envelopment of a rich cultural landscape. From Ulcinj and along the Adriatic Sea a delta encloses the isle of Buna as a strong natural feature, already setting the pace of this coast-to-mainland dynamic. The weaving flow of Buna river unveils the anthropocene landscape of agricultural patterns. Past these farmlands and partly sunk on the lake of Sash, lie the ruins of the city of Shas, an ancient settlement that is now a prospective archaeological area waiting to be discovered. Further along the river, the ruins of the Church of Shirgj appear near the bank, an idyllic prelude to the grandeur of old bridges, before the an