Structural assessment of historical buildings: a case study of five Ottoman Mosques in Albania

Abstract

A large portion of Albanian cultural heritage buildings is made of masonry. Many of them due to the decay and degradation of building material, aggressive environmental conditions, frequent seismic activity and various geological phenomena, as well as the lack of maintenance, are found to be in a very bad condition. This paper aims to introduce a case study in structural assessment based on visual inspection of five Ottoman mosques; Naziresha’s Mosque in Elbasan, Mirahor Ilyas Beg Mosque in Korça, the Leaden Mosque in Berat, Murat Beg Mosque in Kruja and the Mosque of Preza, built in Albania during the Ottoman period that are still functional nowadays. Suggestions for improvement of structural capacity and strengthening techniques are proposed taking into consideration preservation of the cultural, historical and architectural values of the mosques.