Tirana

Tirana:

Central in the city is the Skanderbeg square, which has enormous dimensions and was fully refurbished in 2011 and 2012. It is named after the Albanian national hero Skanderbeg, who stood firm against the advancing Turks in the 15th century for several decades. Also a Skanderbeg Monument is built on the square.

On the edge of it are several government buildings, the town hall, the large Palace of Culture with inside the national opera and library, the Clock Tower, the Et'hem Bey Mosque and the National History Museum. In a southerly direction, the stately Bulevardi Déshmorët e Kombit crosses the Lanërivier. This avenue houses a number of government buildings and the pyramidal former Mausoleum of Enver Hoxha (Piramida) and ends at the Sheshi Nënë Tereza (Mother Teresaplein), where the main building and the rectorate of the University of Tirana (Universiteti i Tiranës) are located.  

The Green Lung of Tirana

Just south of Sheshi Nënë Tereza and Sheshi Italia, the 230-hectare Parku i Madh ('big park') is located on and around a hill, the green lung of the city that is popular with joggers, walkers and fishermen. The Blloku district ('the block'), southwest of Parku Rinia, is bordered to the east by the Rruga Ibrahim Rugova and to the north by the Lanë. Blloku was reserved for senior officials of the regime during the communist period, and forbidden territory for the common man.

Today it is a popular nightlife area, with numerous restaurants, cafes and bars. On the Rruga Ismail Qemali lies the former home of dictator Enver Hoxha opposite a chain of catering businesses with terraces full of young people in the summer.

The Rruga Ludovik Shllaku and Rruga Luigj Gurakuqi connect the Skanderbeg square with Sheshi Avni Rustemi northeast of it. The square provides access to the central market Pazari i Ri (new bazaar) but usually also houses stalls, especially with olives and fruits. South of the Rruga Luigj Gurakuqi, the Rruga George W. Bush leads to the Lanë, with at the western end the statue of the Unknown Partisan and near the eastern end the Ottoman arch bridge Ura e Tabakëve (tanners bridge).

According archeologic treasures the area of Tirana appearantly is inhabited since the ancient Stone Age (paleolithic). In the current city remains of a Roman villa from the second or third century are found. At the beginning of the sixth century, the Byzantine emperor Justinian I made a fortification in Tirana, parts of the walls of which can still be seen in the center of the city today.

It was not until the beginning of the 17th century that Tirana became a real city: according to tradition, the Ottoman general and nobleman Sulejman Pasha founded the city in 1614: at a crossroad he built a mosque (the current Et'hem Bey mosque), marketplace and hammam. Tirana remained a small city until the beginning of the 20th century, until the capital of Albania was moved from Durres to Tirana in 1920. The reason was that Tirana was much more defensible than the coastal previous capital.

While the diplomats tried to keep things afloat, the Italians built large boulevards in the new capital and in a short time Tirana became the largest and most important city in the country. The palace of King Zog I and the parliament building were built in the 1920s. In WWII the city was pretty damaged by the violence of war. The Communists who ruled the country after the war broke off the rest of the old city and built large squares.

Even today there is still a lot going on in the field of renewal and modernization of Tirana.