The protected nature reserve has been part of UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 2017.

Environment Minister Sofjan Jaupaj said in a social media post on Tuesday that July 7 marks a special date for the Gashi River, describing it as “a UNESCO-protected World Heritage site that combines rare natural beauty with exceptional biodiversity.”

“The river rises in the Albanian Alps, creating remarkable landscapes of unique forests, canyons and mountain trails that represent one of Albania’s most important natural assets and part of the world’s shared heritage,” Jaupaj wrote.

Declared a Strict Nature Reserve in 1996 and added to UNESCO’s World Heritage network in 2017, the Gashi River covers about 3,000 hectares in the eastern Albanian Alps, bordering Montenegro to the north and Kosovo to the northeast.

The reserve provides a favourable habitat for a wide range of wildlife and bird species. It also offers opportunities for hiking, mountaineering, nature photography and wildlife observation, while the nearby glacial lakes of Dobërdol and Sylbica further enhance the area’s appeal to visitors.

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Part of the Islamic Centre complex, the mosque was commissioned by Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II at the end of the 15th century. The mosque was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005 as part of Historic Centres of Berat and Gjirokastra.

The structure comprises a prayer hall, a portico and a minaret. The interior of the prayer hall is distinguished by a monumental painted wooden ceiling, a spacious two-level gallery supported by wooden columns, a mihrab set into the qibla wall and a minbar positioned to its right, forming the core of the mosque’s decorative composition.

A central ceiling rosette bears inscriptions of Quran verses, while a frieze running below the ceiling displays the 99 Beautiful Names of God in Islamic tradition.

An open portico precedes the prayer hall. Added in the late 18th century by master builder Dush Barka, it features its own ceiling and an additional mihrab on the northern wall to accommodate overflow worshippers. The portico is framed by an arcade resting on stone columns.

The upper section of the minaret has been reconstructed in recent years. Its base, built using the cloisonné masonry technique, dates to the mosque’s original 15th-century construction and remains one of its earliest surviving architectural elements.

Externally, the mosque is fully plastered, with painted detailing designed to imitate stone masonry.

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