Librazhd District

Librazhd County (Albanian: Rrethi i Librazhdit) was one of the 36 administrative counties in Albania that were abolished in the summer of 2015 following an administrative reform. It was named after the main town of Librazhd. The district in Elbasan Qark had 56,798 inhabitants (2011 census) and an area of 1102 square kilometres.

Today, the territory of the district includes the two municipalities (bashkia) Librazhd and Përrenjas.

The Librazhd district was located in the east of the country on the border with northern Macedonia. The area includes the upper reaches of the Shkumbin River with its side valleys, but without its headwaters. The narrow Shkumbin valley is surrounded by high mountains: To the west the Polis Mountains (Mali i Polisit), at the northern end of which the Shkumbin emerges through a narrow gorge into the coastal plain. To the east, the Jablanica and Shebenik ranges reach heights of over 2200 metres. Large parts of this remote mountain range have been protected as the Shebenik-Jablanica National Park since 2008. The pass Qafë Thana (937 m a.s.l.) is at the same time the easternmost point of the district, the crossing into the basin of Lake Ohrid and the border station to Northern Macedonia.

The area north of Librazhd, characterized by high mountains, is called Çermenika. It is drained by the Rapun River, which joins the Shkumbin at Librazhd. The remote Çermenika is known for vast forests. The highly rutted plateau is difficult to access. The road to Dibra, which passes through this area, climbs to over 1200 m a.s.l. between Fushë-Studna and Stëbleva.

The Shkumbin Valley has always been an important transport route. In the past the Via Egnatia passed through the valley, today tracks of the Albanian railway and the road of the Pan-European Transport Corridor VIII. At the village of Qukës, the roads leave the Shkumbin valley and ascend to the Domosdova plain, where Skanderbeg's troops won the first battle against the Ottomans in 1444. The largest settlement on the plain is Përrenjas. On the eastern edge of the Domosdova Plain, the road ascends to Qafë Thana - the railway passes under it in a tunnel. Train service has since been suspended from Librazhd.

The Shkumbin is also a border between the two dialects of the Albanian language - the Tosks live south of the river, the Gegen in northern Albania and Kosovo - and a religious-cultural dividing line: thus, in traditional Albanian folklore, monophony (monophony) is cultivated north of this line, while polyphonic (polyphonic) singing is common in the south. The Librazhd area is a transition zone where both types of singing are found.

During the communist period, several mines were built in the district, but today they have ceased operations. The most important deposits are located near Përrenjas.

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