The river Osum (total length 161 km (100 mi)) runs through the city before it empties into the Seman within the Myzeqe Plain.

[4][b]Berat, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008, comprises a unique style of architecture with influences from several civilizations that have managed to coexist for centuries throughout the history.

[6] The name Berat has been derived through Albanian sound changes from the Old Slavonic language Bělgrad (Бѣлградъ) or Belgrád / Beligrad (Белград / Белиград), meaning "White City".

[9][10][7] It was recorded in Medieval Latin as Belogradum, Bellegradum, in Turkish as Belgrad, in Italian as Belgrado,[7] and in Greek as Βελλέγραδα, Bellegrada.

[11] Ceramic finds from the 7th century BCE initially attest to a settlement of the rocky hill of Berat by the Illyrians.

Along with Chrysondyon, Gertous and Creonion, Antipatrea was one of the Dassaretan towns around which the Illyrian dynast Skerdilaidas and the Macedonian king Philip V fought in 217 BCE.

[18] As reported by Roman historian Livy, in 200 BCE the Roman legatus Lucius Apustius "stormed and subdued Antipatrea by force of arms and, after killing the men of military age and granting all the plunder to the soldiers, he demolished the walls and burned the city".

[24] In 1274 Michael VIII recaptured Berat and after being joined by Albanians who supported the Byzantine Empire, marched unsuccessfully against the Angevin capital of Durrës.

In March 1281 a relief force from Constantinople under the command of Michael Tarchaneiotes was able to drive off the besieging Sicilian army.

John VI Kantakouzenos mentions that the Albanians in those areas rebelled despite the privileges which Andronikos III Palaiologos had given them a few years earlier.

[28] Andronikos led an army mainly composed of Turkish mercenaries, and defeated the Albanians, killing many and taking prisoners.

[38][39] Toward the latter part of the sixteenth century, Berat contained 461 Muslim houses and another 187 belonged to newcomers from the surrounding villages of Gjeqar, Gjerbës, Tozhar, Fratar, and Dobronik.

[39] The Berat Jewish community took an active role in the welfare of other Jews, such as managing to attain the release of war-related captives present in Durrës in 1596.

[39] By the early seventeenth century, urban life in Berat started to resemble Ottoman and Muslim patterns.

[43] In the early modern era the city was the capital of the Pashalik of Berat founded by Ahmet Kurt Pasha.

On October 22, 1833 the revolt's leaders drafted their requests to the Sublime Porte: they would no longer allow that Berat give soldiers to the Ottoman government.

The Ottoman government accepted the rebels' requests and nominated some Albanian officials in the city and declared an amnesty as well.

[52] In the First World War, a census by Austro-Hungarian occupation forces counted 6745 Orthodox Christians and 20,919 Muslims in the Berat region.

[53] During the Second World War, Jews were concealed in the homes and basements of 60 families from the Muslim and Christian communities in Berat.

[65] By the 18th century the economy and society of Berat was closely connected to the city's craft guilds partly related to various tax exemptions that existed since the late Middle Ages.

[43] Present-day Berat houses Albania's military industry with the nearby Kuçovë base and Poliçan factory as well as a developing tourist economy as of recent years thanks to its historical sites.

The town also bears testimony to the architectural excellence of traditional Balkan housing construction, which date to the late 18th and the 19th centuries.

The population of the fortress was Christian, and it had about 20 churches (most built during the 13th century) and only one mosque, for the use of the Muslim garrison, (of which there survives only a few ruins and the base of the minaret).

In a small tree - planted square, on a hillside inside the walls of the fortress, stands the 14th century Church of the Holy Trinity.

[citation needed] The King Mosque (Albanian: Xhamia e Mbretit), the oldest in the town built in the reign of Bayazid II (1481–1512),[6] is notable for its fine ceiling.

Near of tekke is purported to be the grave of Sabbatai Zevi, an Ottoman Jew who was banished to Dulcigno (present day Ulcinj), who created controversy among his followers upon his conversion to Islam.

Similar views can be seen in Melnik, Bulgaria, Gjirokastër in Albania, as well as Catanzaro in Italy, where an Albanian minority once lived.

[citation needed] Modern Berat consists of three parts divided by the Osum River: Gorica ("little mountain" in Old Church Slavonic), Mangalem and Kalaja, the latter being a residential quarter within the old Byzantine citadel that overlooks the town.

The museum contains non-movable furniture which hold a number of household objects, wooden case, wall-closets, as well as chimneys and a well.

[67][68] In addition to secondary schools, the city hosted the Albanian University in Berat, a private institution that terminated its programs in 2019.