Photos

View from Aslan Pasha Mosque - Its Kale

The Mosque at left is Fetihie Mosque, at the middle you can see Byzantine Museum and at right the Church of Ayioi Anargiroi

Some info from Ioannina Castle, from www.ivebeenthere.co.uk

Ioannina Castle

The castle of Ioannina was built in its present state by the legendary Ali Pasha, the Albanian-born, Ottoman governor of Epirus in the early 19th century, on the foundations of the old Byzantine fortifications of Ioannina.

The northeast end of the castle includes the madrassa, or islamic religious school, which today houses a lovely Museum of Weaponry, and the Mosque of Aslan Pasha, which today houses the Museum of the City of Ioannina.

The southeast end is the Its Kale, or Inner Castle, and was the main compound of the Ali Pasha administration and living quarters.

The castle of Ioannina is the core from which the city expanded to its present size, and included all the major civic monument and sites of the city, including the synagogue of the once mighty local Jewish community.