Mangalem is the Muslim lower quarter of Berat, the Ottoman-era neighbourhood that gave the town its nickname "town of a thousand windows." The houses — stacked up the hillside in tight rows — have an extraordinary number of large, bay-fronted windows, designed in the Ottoman fashion to maximise light while maintaining privacy from the street. The visual effect, of rank upon rank of identical windows climbing toward the castle, is what most photographs of Berat are taken to capture.
The neighbourhood's main street runs below the houses and connects several mosques: the King Mosque (Xhamia e Mbretit), the Lead Mosque (Xhamia e Plumbit), and the Bachelors' Mosque. The Lead Mosque, built in the 16th century under the Ottomans, is the most architecturally distinctive — a single-domed structure with a slim minaret. The cobbled path winding uphill through Mangalem toward the castle gate is the principal approach to Kalaja and the most atmospheric part of any Berat visit.