Tirana´s downtown hub, Skanderbeg Square

The city´s main hub is Sheshi Skënderbej (Skanderberg Square, above), named after the 15th-century national hero whose statue dominates its centre. Much of it remains a monument to the Hoxha period with buildings such as the Palace of Culture (which includes the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet and the National Library), the International Hotel (though it was renovated by an Italian company in 2001 and reopened as a four-star property), and the seven-pavillion National Historical Museum (which covers this territory´s past back to the Paleolithic era, with notable exhibits including one about the decades of “Communist terror” and another on the world´s most famous Albanian, Mother Teresa). Other structures predate them, like the National Bank (built in 1938 in the “Rationalist” style then popular in Fascist Italy), the 203-year-old Et'hem Bey Mosque (built during the more than four centuries of rule by the Ottoman Turkish empire, from and notable for its colourful frescoes), and the 25-metre-high (115-foot) Clock Tower of Tirana (built a year later, and is Albania’s tallest structure, offering panoramic views over the city), also here are the city hall and several government ministry buildings dating from the early 20th century. More recently, after 2015, landscaping and a dozen surrounding gardens were added as part of the renovation and refreshing of the square.

Read more in our post Fascinating Tirana, Albania, and its Renaissance.


Leonid Andronov

 

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