Rrash-Kullaj


Rrash-Kullaj is a settlement in the former Gruemirë municipality, Shkodër County, northern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality Malësi e Madhe. The settlement is historically part of the Vraka region.

History

"Rrash-Kullaj" is the merger of the villages of Rrash and Kulla. These were mentioned for the first time in a Venetian cadastral document from 1416.
During the first World War occupying Austro-Hungarian forces conducted a census of parts of Albania they held such as the wider Shkodër region and of Rrash-Kullaj they recorded 10 households, 122 people: 122 Albanians; 122 Orthodox. Though linguists Klaus Steinke and Xhelal Ylli consider the overall census results regarding the Shkodër area to be the first instance of reliable information on the number of households and inhabitants as well as the ethnic and religious composition of these places, they note that the data for Rrash-Kullaj is somewhat unclear as the inhabitants are referred to as both Albanians and Orthodox.
In 1933, the following brotherhoods inhabited Rrash : Roganović, Bjelanović-Marković, Krstović, Uskoković, Racković, Krkotić, Malisori ; a total of 13 Vračani houses which have all left the village. The following brotherhoods inhabited Kulla : Rešetar, Bašanović, Milogorić, Malisori ; a total of 13 Vračani houses which have all left the village. The villages of Rrash and Kulla were inhabited by Serbs–Montenegrins until World War II when the whole population emigrated to Yugoslavia.

Culture