Qestorat ( or ) 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.
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.Sakellariou M. V.. Epirus, 4000 years of Greek history and civilization Ekdotikē Athēnōn, 1997. , p. 308 Today this institution houses the museum of Lunxhëri.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
Name Its name contains the Albanian suffix -at, widely used to form toponyms from personal names and surnames.
Demographics In the Ottoman register of 1520 for the Sanjak of Avlona, Qestorat (Isharat) was attested as a village in the timar under the authority of Ali from Damas. The village had a total of 71 households. The anthroponymy attested overwhelmingly belonged to the Albanian onomastic sphere, characterised by personal names such as Bardh, Deda, Gjin,Gjon, Kola, Leka and others.
Today the village of Qestorat is inhabited by an Aromanian majority, with a minority of Orthodox Albanians and Muslim Albanians.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" The Aromanian presence in Qestorat dates to the communist era. 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." p. 7.
Notable people Koto Hoxhi, Albanian Rilindas and teacher of Pandeli Sotiri and Petro Nini Luarasi Christakis Zografos, Greek banker and benefactor
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