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Built in 1776, the Lead Mosque (Xhamia e Plumbit) in the northern city of Shkodra is one of the most important religious buildings in Albania. Renowned for its Ottoman architecture and lead copulas, which were later pillaged by the Austrian army in 1916. The mosque was closed from 1967 when the communist party banned all religious activity only to become the rallying point for all faiths when communism fell 23 years later. The english adventurer Edith Durham was given the honour of entering the mosque, much to the disdain of many international consulars who for years had been requesting a tour of the mosque.