HISTORY OF TIRANA

Tirana is the capital city of Albania. Its territory covers 42 km2 and it is the biggest economical, administrative, political, social and cultural centre of Albania.

Although Tirana was founded as city in 1614, compared to millennia old cities of Durres, Shkodra, Berat, etc, its history is rather recent. The city started to grow at the beginning of the 18 century, but there was unimportant settlement until 1920 when it was proclaimed Albania's capital. It was the late 1920 when Italian influence became quite strong that the city took the appearance of a capital city. The City Planning and the constructions activity of Italian neighbors during 1930s until capitulation of fascism in 1943 provided to the city an axis and a structure of the city centre, which preserves its configuration to the present day.  Italian planners and architects build the main square named after the National Hero Scanderbeg, the huge boulevard, ministerial buildings, national bank and the city hall.

Tirana has a mix of oriental, Italian and communist architecture as well as many recently built modern buildings, combining Albanian and foreign architectural styles.

Just in the centre, at Scanderbeg Square, there is the Mosque, the Clock Tower (35 m high), The National Opera and Ballet Theatre, the National Library and the National Historical Museum
The mosque of Tirana is a monument with historical values, which in harmony with the Clock Tower forms a monumental complex of values for our city, which is presented to every visitor that comes to Tirana. The mosque is called the mosque of Ethem Beu. Its construction began in 1789 and was finished in 1821. The best masters of Albania worked for it. The construction of the Clock’s Tower started around 1821-1822. In 1928 the Albanian state bought in Germany a modern clock and the Tower was raised in the height of 35 m. During the World War II, the Clock was damaged, but it restarted work in July 1946.
The Orthodox Church of Saint Prokop was built in 1780, the Catholic Church of Saint Maria was constructed in 1865 with the Austrian-Hungarian expenses of the Emperor, Franc Josef, “Tabakëve” Bridge and “Terzive” bridge which date the beginning of the XIX century.
The existing Parliamentary building was constructed 1924. On September 1928, Ahmet Zogu proclaimed the Monarchy there. The construction of hospital complex started in 1929 and at that period it was considered to be one of the biggest complexes in the Balkans.
The Palace of Culture where the National Theatre of Operas and Ballet and the National Library are located, was finished in 1963. Just in the center of Scanderbeg square stands Scanderbeg’s statue which was made in 1968 to commemorate the 500th death anniversary of our national hero Gjergj Kastriot Skenderbeu.  The monument “Mother Albania” was inaugurated in the cemetery “Dëshmorët e Kombit” in 1971. The Academy of Sciences was constructed on April 1972. The Gallery of Figurative Arts was established in 1976 and it includes around 3200 works of Albanian and foreign authors. The National Historic Museum was built in 1981. The International Cultural Center, the ex- museum “Enver Hoxha” was inaugurated in 1988, while the Palace of Congresses was built in 1983.
In 2000 the center of Tirana, from the Central University Corpus up to the “Skanderbeg“ square was declared as Cultural Assemble with particular values under the state ‘s protection. In the same year a restoring process named “Return to Identity” began in this area. With the implementation of the French master-plan, worked out by a French architectural office “Architecture Studio”, five remarkable 85m high buildings will be erected in the centre.

New colorful facades covering the grey communist style buildings are another special feature of Tirana. After  2000, the idea of the Mayor Mr. Edi Rama was to colorfully paint a considerable number of building facades painted with fantastically shining colors and motives, which brought about an entirely cutting edge modernity into the capital and a happier way of perceiving ones own city.

The city’s growing has been very fast and developing very dynamic during the last two decades. In 1990 Tirana had 250.000 inhabitants. Actually, the free massive overrun of inhabitants, after the collapse of communist regime, from all the other parts of the country in the capital has increased the population of Tirana to nearly 700.000 inhabitants or more than one fifth  of the entire country’s population.
Today Tirana is not only the most populated city in Albania but also the most important political and economic centre in the country. All important institutions of the country such as the presidency, the parliament, the government, and almost all diplomatic representative bodies in Albania, as well as many international organizations such as the World Bank, IMF, OSCE, and UNESCO have their residencies in Tirana. 90% of the country’s mayor enterprises, more than 80% of foreign companies and joint ventures are located in Tirana.

Tirana has become the centre of the construction sector in Albania. More than 420 construction companies or about 80% of the total number of all construction companies nationwide are based here.

Tirana is also the center of Albanian cultural life. Fine art galleries, museums, art academies and schools as well as the most important universities of the country are located in Tirana. Plays, operas and concerts are staged in Tirana. Exhibitions, concerts, shows of different genres, where Albanian artists cooperate with international partners are frequent. Tirana Bienale, the jazz festivals and different competitions are more and more internationally. Different religion beliefs coexist peacefully in Tirana: Catholic, Orthodox, Muslim, and Bektashism.

Tirana is situated in a natural geographical position to be the capital of Albania. It is almost equally distant   to northern and southern country borders. The city lies 17 km from Mother Teresa Airport, also known as Rinas, Albania’s only international airport. This is the most important hub between Albania and the rest of the world. It is just 20 minutes drive from the city centre.

Recently Tirana is experiencing a boom in various fields and everything is on the move. It welcomes tourists, business people, and investors, who are attracted to this blooming city and its lively atmosphere. There are many cities in Europe known of their own special unique charm, and Tirana is one of them.