Durres archeological museum not ready for centenary of independence

TIRANA, Oct. 31 – The archeological museum of Durres, a testimony to the ancient city’s 3000-year-old history, which has been under restoration for more than 1 year will not be open to visitors for the centenary of independence in late November as expected under the project. “The museum is currently under reconstruction which should finish by the end of this year but I cannot provide an accurate date on the conclusion of works because the exhibition halls will also have to be restored,” Ermion Arapi, the head of the Durres Directorate of Monuments of Culture tells local media. The reconstruction will make possible the improvement of the building’s architecture and its exhibition spaces. A library and conference hall will also be made available in the new museum premises. Arapi says the reconstruction will also include objects which are on display in the museum’s front garden, apart from inner works in the three-storey cubist architecture museum building.”Some 2,100 objects belonging to the period before the foundation of the city until the fourth century are found in the museum’s first floor,” said Arapi.
Lonely Planet tourist guide, which has put Albania as the top destination to visit in 2011, describes the Archaeological Museum situated on the waterfront as well laid out with an impressive collection of artefacts from the Greek, Hellenistic and Roman periods. Highlights include engraved Roman funeral stelae (memorial stones) and some big carved stone sarcophagi. Back in the day when the city was called Epidamnos, Durr쳠was a centre for the worship of Venus, and the museum has a cabinet bursting with little busts of the love goddess.
Inaugurated in 1953 during the communist regime, the current museum opened in 2001. Along with the ancient Durres Amphitheatre, the archeological museum is on top of the agenda of visitors who come to see the ancient site which boasts a rich cultural heritage.