eGlobal Education

                                                             

Skanderbeg Square, the center of Tirana and Albania

You can find some architectural gems in Tirana, but you have to look hard.  Mostly, it is a city of Soviet style buildings and lots of new construction of dubious architectural merit.  There are new buildings going up all over the city (and the country, for that matter) often replacing the old villas that gave the city some character.  Lots of the new buildings are for offices, but it’s uncertain what businesses will fill them as Albania does not have a large economy, nor a commercial base.  

one of Tirana's charming buildings

Our guide said the city is about 70% Muslim and 30% Christian, but that 60% of the people don’t follow any religion.  There aren’t a lot of churches or mosques, though Turkey is paying to build a large new mosque in the city center. 

Skanderbeg Square is a massive square that is the center of the city and the nation.  An Italian designed the square originally to be the meeting point of the roads to the far parts of Albania.  Because Italy is so close to Albania (the heel of its boot is only 45 miles from Albania), and because Italy occupied Albania during World War II, there is a lot of cultural influence from Italy. 

old mosque in Tirana center

After World War II, Albania was ruled by a brutal Communist Party.  Enver Hoxha was the dictator for 44 years, until his death in 1985.  He became increasingly paranoid after he broke relations with China in 1979 (because Hoxha believed they had moved too far away from real communism).  Both the United States and the Soviet Union were enemies so feared that he ordered bunkers to be built across the country to protect from an attack from one or both nations.  He built well over 200,000 bunkers, from tiny to huge, including 2 enormous nuclear bunkers in case of nuclear war.  You can see bunkers everywhere as you drive around Albania.  Creative Albanians now use some of them for such varied activities as bars, mushroom growing facilities and even crude homes.  

president's office

fresco of Istanbul on old mosque

We visited the BunkArt I nuclear bunker today.  It is very large, and now a museum of sorts with photos of the Albanian resistance during World War II and the transition to Communist rule led by Hoxha.  Several rooms are decorated in the style of the era and are the rooms where Hoxha would have resided during a nuclear attack.  It’s a dark and depressing place, with photos of Hoxha securing his power in part by creating a cult around himself and brutally torturing and murdering any dissidents. 

old ministry building with new construction behind

Once he’d cut off all communication with China, Hoxha turned Albania into the most isolated country in the world.  China had provided aid and investment to Albania, but that stopped in 1979 and a time of great privation and hunger followed until 1992.  Since then, people live much better and freer lives, though the reformed Communist Party, now the Socialist Party, has won most of the elections since 1992.

Today, Albania is a member of NATO and has applied for membership in the European Union.  It has lost population as young people depart for Europe and North America in search of a better future.  The country has valuable natural resources, but primarily exports the raw materials rather than converting them into marketable products that                                                                                          would generate jobs.

dried fruit and nut shop in bazaar

Tirana has a small, but busy, bazaar and a thriving night life in several parts of the city.  The restaurants are varied, lively and plentiful, offering good food and Albanian (and other) wines and beers for very reasonable prices.  Albanians we’ve talked to have been very helpful.  Many, but not all, are proud of their close relationship with the United States.