Qestorat

Qestorat (Aromanian: Chiãsturat, Chiãsturata) is a community of the former Lunxhëri municipality in the Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality Gjirokastër.[1]

Qestorat Chiãsturat
Village
Zographeion college facilities in Qestorat (1881)
Qestorat
Coordinates:
Country	Albania
County	Gjirokastër
Municipality	Gjirokastër
Municipal unit	Lunxhëri
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)

From 1874 to 1891 the village was home to the Greek Zographeion College, educational facilities that included primary and secondary male, female schools and a teacher's academy and operated with the personal costs of the local benefactor Christakis Zografos.[2] Today this institution houses the museum of Lunxhëri.[3]

Demographics

The village of Qestorat is inhabited by an Aromanian majority, with a minority of Orthodox Albanians and Muslim Albanians.[4] The Aromanian presence in Qestorat dates to the communist era.[5][6]

Notable people

• Koto Hoxhi, Albanian Rilindas and teacher of Pandeli Sotiri and Petro Nini Luarasi

• Christakis Zografos, Greek banker and benefactor

References

1. Law nr. 115/2014 Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine
2. Sakellariou M. V.. Epirus, 4000 years of Greek history and civilization Ekdotikē Athēnōn, 1997. ISBN 978-960-213-371-2, p. 308
3. Gilles de Rapper. Better than Muslims, not as Good as Greeks: Emigration as experienced and imagined by the Albanian Christians of Lunxhëri The New Albanian Migration. Brighton-Portland, Sussex Academic Press (2005), p. 15
4. Kallivretakis, Leonidas (1995). "Η ελληνική κοινότητα της Αλβανίας υπό το πρίσμα της ιστορικής γεωγραφίας και δημογραφίας [The Greek Community of Albania in terms of historical geography and demography." In Nikolakopoulos, Ilias, Kouloubis Theodoros A. & Thanos M. Veremis (eds). Ο Ελληνισμός της Αλβανίας [The Greeks of Albania]. University of Athens. p. 51. "ΑΧ Αλβανοί Ορθόδοξοι Χριστιανοί, AM Αλβανοί Μουσουλμάνοι, Β Βλάχοι"; Αλβανοί Ορθόδοξοι Χριστιανοί"; p.57. "QESTORATI ΚΕΣΤΟΡΑΤΙ 330 Β + αχ/αμ"
5. Kahl, Thede (1999). Ethnizität und räumliche Verbreitung der Aromunen in Südosteuropa. Universität Münster: Institut für Geographie der Westfälischen Wilhelms. ISBN 3-9803935-7-7. p. 133. R. Rrămăn (Aromunen mit der Eigenbezeichnung Rrămăn = Farscheroten, Arvanitovlachen)"; p. 146. "Qestorat... einige familie R; zu kommunischtischer Zeit angesiedelte aromunische Bevölkerungsgruppen aus südostalbanischen Gebirgen und aus Greichenland."
6. De Rapper, Gilles (2005). "Better than Muslims, Not as Good as Greeks: Emigration as Experienced and Imagined by the Albanian Christians of Lunxhëri". In King, Russell; Mai, Nicola; Schwandner-Sievers, Stephanie (eds.). The New Albanian Migration. Brighton-Portland: Sussex Academic. ISBN 9781903900789. p. 7.