Berat [key], town (1993 est. pop. 148,100), capital of Berat dist., S central Albania. It is a commercial center and the seat of a bishop of the Albanian Orthodox Church. There is an oil field nearby. Probably built on the site of ancient Antipatrea, Berat fell to the Serbs in 1345 and to the Turks in 1440. A citadel, rebuilt by the Byzantines in the 13th cent., overlooks the town, which has a 15th-century mosque and several old churches. The autocephalic Albanian Orthodox Church was proclaimed there in 1922.
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