The capital is Tirana
The capital is Tirana
TIRANA is the capital city of Albania. The population size is 800,000. It is also the largest city in Albania and is an inland city. It is named after the castle of Tirkan which is most likely of ancient origin and was first mentioned in Byzantine records. The coast is 36 km from the city. The Tirana and Lana rivers flow through the city and there are several man-made lakes in the city.
Monuments
In the middle of the city is Skanderbeg Square. This is a large square and situated in the square is a statue of the Albanian hero and the historic Edhem The Bey Mosque from the 17th century. This is one of the few monuments which did not undergo extensive political and structural changes.
Not far from the mosque are the clock tower built in 1830 (Krulla e Sahatit in Albanian), ministry buildings from the 1930s and government buildings from the 1960s.
To the east of the city center, there is an old Turkish bridge (Ura e Tabakëve in Albanian) which has survived to the present day.
Monuments
There is also a very famous mosaic on the National Museum building situated in Skenderbeg Square .
The only preserved ancient monument in the city is the Tirana mosaic (Mozaiku i Tiranës in Albanian) which was discovered in 1972. It is located in the western part of the city in a newly built, but originally Roman, house probably belonging to a wine grower. The work was created in the 4th to 5th century AD after the villa was converted into a basilica.
One of the most important monuments in the surroundings of Tirana is the Petrela fortress which was built at the beginning of the Byzantine period, near the original road leading towards Elbasan.