We don’t do this to you often — we like to tell stories but not open a schoolroom — but in this case, just because the castle’s history goes so far back, we’ll tell you what Wikipedia says (slightly abridged):  “Due to its strategic location, the hill has been settled since antiquity. It was an Illyrian stronghold until it was captured by the Romans in 167 BC.  The fortifications, as they have been preserved to date, are mostly of Venetian origin. The castle has been the site of several famous sieges, including the siege of Shkodra by the Ottomans in 1478 and by the Montenegrins in 1912. The castle and its surroundings form an Archaeological Park of Albania.”  And this is an old, transitional-period (1988) unused postcard.  Grade: 1