STONE HOUSE OF ZEF NDOCAJ IN KODËR SPAÇ VILLAGE

 

Zef Ndocaj's house was declared a Cultural Monument by the Ministry of Education and Culture in 1973. This house, like others in the province of Mirdita, is particularly distinctive for its clear protective features and the way they were built. Everything is subject to the main goal, providing a protected living: the plot, the compositional scheme of the apartment with alcoves placed in height, the external architectural formulation with closed masses, the introduction of stairs inside, the gate, the roof shelter, etc.


The fortified dwellings are usually built in protected positions, while the typological and functional elements, as well as the architectural and decorative constructive elements, are similar to those of the fortified dwellings of Mati.

Some particular features are the fortified buildings in the other "bajraks" of Mirdita, Orosh and Spaç, such as Zef Ndocaj's ground floor apartment and tower in the village of Kodër Spaç and Prend Lleshit's apartment in the village of Mashtërkor. The towers were built mainly by powerful families and are called 2-story towers.

The tower may have three, four or more chambers. Where there is no shed, the ground floor is used for livestock. A narrow staircase as soon as you enter the door leads to the men's room where friends are received and where the fireplace stands.

 

The room does not have much furniture, in the corners there is a rug or some sheepskin, here and there, in the room you can see short triangular canes, some old carved and very beautiful thrones and some old carved chests. In the corner of the corner you can notice a wooden stump, which is used instead of a pillow. On both sides of the fireplace and in the wall above the two corners are closed niches in carved boards, they have a beautiful appearance and the master of the house puts the coffee cutlery.

 

The most common planimetric form of fortified dwellings in Orosh e Spaç is the corner one, which is formed by attaching an annex to the main volume of the dwelling. In the alcoves of the annex, the sanitary nodes of the floors are located. Mirdita's fortified dwellings are equipped with chimneys, unlike the ones in Mati, they do not have windows, but only turrets. As it seems, Mirdita's chikmata have lost their seating function and have only become protective elements.