I’m no slouch when it comes to preparing for a trip to a new destination. I try to read up on the history and current state of affairs of any country I’m about to visit. I make attempts to learn a few phrases of the local language and prepare myself for the ins and outs of regional public transportation or cultural idiosyncrasies; in Albania, people nod their heads when saying “no” and shake their heads when saying “yes,” which is the opposite of non-verbal communication in the US.
And yet, I hopped on a bus from Podgorica and entered Albania relatively blind. On my previous trip to the Balkans, I skipped over the country completely. I was so focused on visiting all the nations that made up the former-Yugoslavia that I didn’t even think of pausing for a detour, even though geographically Albania is right there, bordering Montenegro, Kosovo and North Macedonia.
The country is small, globally ranking 140th in size (about the same area as Guinea-Bissau or the state of Massachusetts), but as I quickly found out, this pint-sized plot of land packs a big punch. Albanians are extraordinarily friendly people and Tirana is chock-full of things to see and do. So why was my general knowledge about this tiny nation so lacking before my trip?
The answer can be summed up in two words: Enver Hoxha. Not to get ahead of myself, but Hoxha was a dictator who ruled Albania with an iron fist from 1946 until his death in 1985. Albania was the North Korea of 20th- Century Europe. No one could get in or out; thousands of people were imprisoned, tortured and killed; human rights were violated at every turn; this was isolationism in the extreme. After Hoxha’s death, his daughter attempted to follow in his footsteps, but protests and a national rebellion led to the fall of communism in Albania and its current democratic reincarnation was born in 1992. It took a full decade before Albanians could get back on their feet again and for those willing to visit one of Europe’s least-traveled destinations, Albania is a bit like bumping into Rip Van Winkle after he woke up from his 40-year nap.
Sheshi Skënderbej (Skanderberg Square)
I began my exploration of Tirana in the only logical starting place: Skanderberg Square. The square has seen many iterations of itself over the years, the first of which occurred when Italian forces occupied Albania during World War II, clearing the area of its buildings and thus creating the first version of this public space in 1939.
In 2010, then-mayor-of-Tirana Edi Rama, who is now the current Prime Minister of Albania, launched an initiative to revamp the square. This would involve removing all traffic and transforming the space into the largest pedestrian-only zone in the Balkans. Bureaucracy ensued and the project wasn’t completed until 2017, but the results are glorious and Skanderberg is a fun place to hang out. Skanderberg Square has so effortlessly become Tirana’s beating heart that it’s impossible to imagine how the city functioned before these changes were implemented.
The square owes its name to the national hero whose commemorative statue was erected in 1968, replacing the statue of Joseph Stalin that once menaced the square. Skanderberg (the man) was born in 1405 and was sold as a hostage to the Ottoman court when he was a child. He was raised and educated as an Ottoman, but he never forgot his Albanian roots. In 1443, Skanderberg turned against his captors and for the next quarter of a century led one of the most successful campaigns against Europe’s Ottoman occupiers. While he was ultimately unable to permanently drive them back, his legacy as someone who fought against oppression was secure.
Given this, it was bizarre that Hoxha allowed Skanderberg’s image to be installed in the first place, knowing full well what a powerful symbol he was for the Albanian people. Here was a dictator oppressing his people unveiling a statue of someone who fought against oppression.
I don’t know if it’s apparent from the photo at the top of this post, but Skanderberg Square is not flat. The center of the square is raised up like a pyramid and the four sides slope down ever so slightly at a 2.5% gradient. The stones used to construct the square were taken from every district in Albania and represent national unity.
The dark patches you see on the square make up a “fountain” of sorts. Rain runs down the slopes of the pyramid and drains into a collection tank below the square. The rainwater then is recycled through a pump back up to the top of the pyramid where it bubbles down the sides again. The water highlights the various colors of the different kinds of stone found throughout the nation.
Pallate i Kulturës (Palace of Culture)
One side of the square is flanked by the Palace of Culture, which houses the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet and the National Library. Funding for the building was provided by the Soviet Union in 1959, but Hoxha had a falling out with the USSR in 1961 and it took several more years to complete the Palace of Culture because of Hoxha’s paranoia.
Bashkia Tiranë (Tirana City Hall)
The south side of the square opens up into a park surrounded by government buildings, including City Hall, which you can see in the foreground above. When Edi Rama was mayor, he initiated a beautification campaign for the city. I’ll discuss this in greater detail in a later post, but even the government buildings got a face lift, maintaining their architectural integrity, all the while receiving a fresh coat of paint in dazzling bright colors. The buildings are still in their communist-brutalist style, but now with unexpected a twist.
Kula e Sahatit (Clock Tower)
The best views of central Tirana can be taken in from the Clock Tower next to the Palace of Culture and the Et’hem Bey Mosque (the latter of which was sadly under construction and not open to visitors when I visited the capital). The tower was built in 1822 and is one of the few Ottoman structures, along with the mosque, that Hoxha did not destroy during his tenure.
At the time of its construction, the tower was the tallest structure in Tirana, and a bell tolled on the hour to help the citizens keep time. A bomb destroyed the top of the tower during WWII and it had to be reconstructed with the modern section you see above. The bell was swapped out for an actual clock and visitors have been welcome to climb the 35m (115ft) to the top since 1996.
Pazari i Ri
Just north of Skanderberg Square is the fantastic little market, Pazari i Ri. Here you can stock up on all the homegrown Albanian essentials your heart desires. I found the food in Tirana to be of a very high quality. Albania benefits from straddling the Balkan and the Mediterranean climates and is able to produce a cornucopia of fresh fruit, vegetables, honey and more. Olives are one of my great vices; I did some serious damage to my wallet here!
Muzeu Historik Kombëtar (National History Museum)
After you have found your bearings around Skanderberg, it’s time to visit the National History Museum, which takes up the entire northern edge of the square. Unmistakably brutalist in design, this behemoth was opened in 1981 and is Albania’s largest museum. The exhibits are organized into eight pavilions that take you through Albania’s storied past. Nothing is overlooked and if you really take your time you should budget two to three hours for your visit; the Pavilion of Communist Terror opened in 2012 and was obviously not part of the orignal layout sanctioned by Hoxha himself in 1981.
Immediately eye-catching and entrancing is the massive mosaic, “The Albanians” which heralds the triumphs of Albania through the ages. Half communist propaganda, half socialist realism, the piece instantly transports you back to Hoxha’s reign, when this genre of art was the only one permitted.
Inside you can see impressive mosaics from another era. Like its ex-Yugoslav neighbors to the north, Albania was also part of the Roman Empire and vestiges of this past are constantly being discovered thoroughly the country.
The Kingdom of Albania was established in 1272, but it wouldn’t take long until Ottoman forces seized control of Albania and occupied the tiny nation for nearly 500 years. The only respite from Ottoman rule came from Skanderberg’s organized resistance, of which the museum devotes considerable space to detail.
As the Ottoman Empire weakened during the 19th Century, forces united in the Balkans to expel their occupiers. The First Balkans War saw that goal realized and Albania celebrated its autonomy in 1912. Albania’s first taste of post-Ottoman independence certainly had some ups and downs. In 1922, Ahmet Zogu was elected Prime Minister, after which he declared himself President and finally served as Albania’s first and only king from 1928-39. Italy’s invasion of Albania forced King Zog (the moniker which he later bestowed upon himself) into exile, paving the way for a showdown between the nationalists and communists after WWII.
Hoxha’s Communist party emerged victorious after several bloody battles in post-war Albania. He quickly abolished all opposing political parties and ideologies. The photos above show the protests in 1991 that toppled his statue that had long stood in Skanderberg Square. Little did I know how much more I would learn about Hoxha’s rule during the next five days I was to spend in Tirana.
Parku i Madh i Tiranës (Grand Park of Tirana)
After an intense couple of hours at the National History Museum you might need to relax your mind a bit. If you walk south from Skanderberg Square down Tirana’s main boulevard you will pass several government buildings and eventually run into the University of Tirana. Behind the university, the Grand Park, Tirana’s largest and most popular green space, awaits.
The park and its enormous artificial lake were constructed in 1955-56; the Tirana zoo and botanical garden take up the area on the southern side of the lake while the park proper, with its many statues and memorials, sits on the northern side. The park contains the Presidential Palace, original built as the Royal Palace for King Zog; a cemetery, where fallen World War II British, Australian and German soldiers have been buried side by side, lies with the grounds as well.
My favorite plaza in the park was the tomb of the three Frashëri Brothers, who all contributed to Albania’s fight for independence from the Ottomans through political and artistic, rather than violent means. (Even though I originally took us to the park for a brief break from history, it seems as if the subject has followed us here as well. Perhaps it’s a bit on the nose, but no matter how hard we try, we can’t escape the past!)
Abdyl, the eldest Frashëri brother born in 1839, was one of the founders of the “Albanian National Awakening.” As the name suggests, Abdyl fought to carve out a national identity for Albanians within the Ottoman Empire. He became involved in the Constantinople political scene, ever arguing for Albanian autonomy. He is responsible for reforms in education that allowed for the teaching for the Albanian language and its literature in schools across Albania.
Naim, the middle brother, is today known as Albania’s National Poet. He wrote verses of unity and patriotic pride. One of the lines lifted from his poetry- “Ti Shqipëri, më jep nder, më jep emrin Shqipëtar” (You Albania, give me honor, give me my name Albanian)- has been adopted as the National Motto.
Lastly, the youngest brother Sami was a playwright and philosopher who founded the National Renaissance Movement that would standardize the Albanian alphabet and initiate mass printings of classic Albanian texts for broad public consumption.
Skanderberg may have fought the Ottomans with his sword, but the Frashëri Brothers picked up their pens instead. And was the pen mightier than the sword? Perhaps. It did take a war to liberate Albania from Ottoman control, but without laying the culture groundwork first, the cohesive support from the population may not have been achieved.
None of the three brothers lived to see Albanian independence in 1912, but their legacies live on today, with many schools and artistic institutions in Tirana bearing their names.
With the sun setting, I returned to Skanderberg Square reflecting on my first day in Tirana. I was intrigued by the general overview of Albanian history and culture I had absorbed and was ready to dive deeper into the past the following morning. Tirana was not going to be the type of city that gives you all the answers all at once. You’re going to have to work for them, peeling back layer after layer of its shrouded past. I’m always up for a challenge; stay tuned for what comes next…
