“This museum has a collection of 3,204 items dating back from prehistory to antiquity, the post-Byzantine and Middle Ages. From heavy and big objects to fragile and extraordinary objects such as the perfume bottles produced in ancient times, which in my modest viewpoint can compete with the latest Dior or Chanel ones,” says Prime Minister Rama
TIRANA, March 25 – After a five-year reconstruction saga, the landmark Durres archeological museum which houses around 3,200 items dating back from prehistory to the Middle Ages, has finally reopened to the public in the country’s second biggest city.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony last weekend, Prime Minister Edi Rama described the newly reconstructed museum as the biggest and most realistic in Albania.
“This museum has a collection of 3,204 items dating back from prehistory to antiquity, the post-Byzantine and Middle Ages. From heavy and big objects to fragile and extraordinary objects such as the perfume bottles produced in ancient times, which in my modest viewpoint, can compete with the latest Dior or Channel ones,” said Rama.
“This museum along with the local amphitheatre are the two most visited sites in Durres as two very important centres of historical tourism and much appreciated by the most renowned international experts,” the Prime Minister said.
Speaking about the 2,700-year-old Roman amphitheatre of Durres, one of the biggest in the region, the Prime Minister said government was committed to freeing the amphitheatre’s arena from constructions and transform it into a modern tourist attraction.
Culture Minister Mirela Kumbaro said the museum is also preparing a special archeological exhibition for blind people, which is unique in Albania.
“The museum will be one of the most important attractions because of being part of the itinerary we are building with the Durres amphitheatre which is also undergoing restoration and having a new lighting system and we will continue with the rehabilitation of the internal arena,” she has earlier noted.
Ledion Lako, the director of the Durres archaeological museum, says all items displayed in the museum are authentic and have been found in the city of Durres and its surroundings.
“The museum’s first floor showcases the prehistoric, the archaic, the classical the Hellenistic and Roman periods. In the second floor, we are conserving archeological objects belonging to the Byzantine, medieval and Ottoman periods,” Lako told reporters.
“The restored museum will operate under a new vision, making it an important archeological and cultural destination with calendar of events serving a miscellaneous audience,” adds Lako.
The reopening finds the museum reconceived with newly designed exhibition spaces. The museum’s front yard facing the local seafront promenade has been turned into a mini-park featuring giant archeological objects among decorative trees and green areas.
The archeological museum of Durres, a testimony to the ancient city’s 3000-year-old history along with the ancient Roman amphitheatre, has been under restoration since September 2011. The initial project envisaged the museum restoration project would conclude in 2012 during the country’s 100th anniversary of independence.
The reconstruction has made possible the improvement of the building’s architecture and its exhibition spaces. A library and conference hall has also been made available in the new museum premises. The reconstruction has also included objects which are on display in the museum’s front garden, apart from inner works in the three-storey cubist architecture museum building.
The museum which first opened in 1951 was closed down in 2011 to be reconstructed and have its objects restored, but works were postponed several times, stripping tourists of their opportunity to get acquainted with the 3,000 year-old history of Durres.
Apart from the landmark amphitheatre and archeological museum, the port city of Durres offers tourists attractions such as the Roman thermal baths, the Byzantine wall with its towers, the Byzantine forum, the Venetian tower, the Arapaj Basilica and the ethnographic museum.
Founded in the 7th century BC under the name Epidamnos, it has been continuously inhabited for 27 centuries and is one of the oldest cities in Albania.
Archaeologists have discovered some of the country’s most beautiful mosaics in the ancient city of Durres and its suburbs including the famous “Durres Beauty” mosaic which is on display at the National Historical Museum in Tirana.
Lonely Planet tourist guide, which in 2011 placed Albania as the top global destination to visit, 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, Durrës was 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.
