Vlore’s main mosque is a stunning Ottoman building and has been preserved for almost half a millennium, even managing to survive Albania’s post-war communist regime that oversaw the shuttering of many religious buildings. 

Muradie Mosque is an Albanian National Monument built by Mimar Sinan in 1537. Sinan was among the most vaunted Ottoman architects and remains a Turkish cultural icon to this day. 

He oversaw countless works throughout the empire and even had a hand in the design of the Taj Mahal in India