Rozafa Castle, symbol of Shkodër, sits on a hill at the city’s entrance near the Drino River bridge. Built in the 4th century B.C., it now serves as a museum. Nearby is the sanctuary of Our Lady of Good Counsel.Shkodër’s old city developed around the castle, with structures from Illyrian, Roman-Byzantine, Venetian, and Ottoman periods. The castle, built on a rocky hill, was a strategic and nearly unassailable fortress.Legend says the castle repeatedly collapsed until a human sacrifice—Rozafa, the wife of a builder—was walled alive, leaving part of her body free to care for her child. Historically, Shkodër was the Illyrian capital, and excavations confirm the castle’s role in protecting locals from sieges and floods since at least 230 B.C.