Butrint is an extensive archaeological site (over 200 hectares) in southern Albania on the Straits of Corfu, with remains dating from the Bronze Age to the Ottoman era. It has particularly well preserved features from the Roman and Byzantine periods, including beautiful mosaic floors, and its ‘Homeric setting’ has benefited from remarkably little modern development. Butrint was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site List in 1992. 

The Butrint Foundation is a UK-registered charity, founded in January 1993 by Lord Jacob Rothschild and Lord John Sainsbury of Preston Candover ‘to restore, preserve and develop the Butrint site…for the benefit of the public’ (from The Charter of the Butrint Foundation). From 1993-2012, the Foundation worked to secure the protection and improvement of the natural environment; the excavation, restoration and preservation of historical locations and structures, alongside the display of the objects discovered in the process; the research and improvement of historical records; the promoting of the public access at the Butrint site through the development of facilities; and the encouragement of training for local archaeologists and conservators to protect and interpret the site.  

The Butrint Foundation, working with the Albanian Ministry of Culture and UNESCO, secured the enlargement of the protected site in 1999 to include a large tract of land around the archaeological site. Archaeological research in Butrint’s hinterland included investigations of Diaporit Roman villa, the Kalivo hillfort, and the Cape Stillo Bronze Age settlement. The Butrint Foundation ceased to be an operating entity in 2012, and until 2016, became a grant-making Foundation, supporting and assisting other organisations to undertake projects on Butrint. Its current role is in support of the Albanian-American Development Foundation and the adoption of an Integrated Management Plan for the Butrint National Park.