Tirana

Overview

Tirana is the capital of Albania, and the biggest city of the country. Still it is a small and compact place that is best explored on foot. Its architecture bears considerable influence of Italian as well as Turkish monuments, lying as it does exactly between Rome and Istanbul. The Skënderberg Square is a huge open space in the centre of the city while Mt. Dajti, at 5,030 ft, towers over the eastern side. Tirana is dotted by many museums.

History

Tirana is 110 m above sea level. The average annual temperatures are in July 24°C and in January 7°C. Annual rainfalls are 1200m per year. Tirana is on the same parallel as Naples, Madrid and Istanbul and on the same meridian as Budapest and Krakow.

Sulejman Pasha from the village of Mullet founded Tirana in 1614. In the beginning, he built a mosque, a bakery and a Turkish sauna. Two centuries later the Toptani family led the city from Kruja.

There exist four theories about the origins of the name Tirana:

First , it is thought that Tirana comes from the word Theranda found in ancient Greek and Latin sources because those living there called it Të ranat ("fallen material"), because the plain was formed as a result of the strong materials which were brought by the water from the surrounding mountains.

Second , Tirana comes from Tirkan. Tirkan was a castle on the face of mount Dajti. The ruins of this ancient castle still exist, which dates back to the beginning of the first century before the birth of Christ, and which is thought to have been the castle which the Byzantine historian named Prokop (6th century) called the castle of Tirkan.

Third , Tirana comes from Teheran, the capital of Iran, in remembrance of the victory by Sulejman Pasha (founder of the city), head of the Turkish army during the campaign in Persia.

Fourth , an old Tirana tale says that Sulejman Pasha took the name of the city from an old lady whom he had met at the site where he was going to build the city. When Sulejman Pasha asked the old lady what she was doing she answered � Po tir an (meaning "spinning silk")�.

Mount Dajti is 1612 m high and is situated on the east of Tirana.

The Congress of Lushnja declared Tirana a temporary capital for the first time on February 8th 1920 and it gained this status permanently on December 31st 1925. Tirana has been the world�s Bektashi headquarters since 1925, when the Bektashis were banned and expelled from Turkey

The first district in Tirana was Bami. The mosque in the centre of Tirana, called Et�hem Bey, began to be built in 1789 by Molla Bey, who came from Petrela and was finished in 1821 by his son, Haxhi Et�hem Bey, great-grandson of Sulejman Pasha. The best artisans in Albania built it.

The clock tower was begun by Haxhi Et�hem Bey...more