Tirana marks 88th anniversary of becoming a capital

Tirana became capital of Albania by a decision of the Congress of Lushnja, which also selected the government of Sulejman Delvina. On 11th of February 1920 this government was located in Tirana in a building on the Elbasani Street when it officially declared the city the capital of the country. The name of Tirana is first mentioned in a Venetian document of 1418, and then later by Marin Barleti. The date of the founding of the city is 1614 under the auspecies of Sulejman Pasha Bargjini who built up the core of the town with a public bath, a mosque, a bakery and shops. The bazaar gave an impetus to development of the city in the 18th century.
The beautiful standing mosque of Et’hem Bey was started in 1789 and the Clock tower in 1830, while in the 19th century the bridge of the Tabaks was completed. Tirana created a new face in 1922 when by order of the Internal Affairs Minister, removed the cemetery from the mosque in the center and the new road of Durresi, then called “Mother Queen,” was opened. During the late 1920s the current Barrikada Street was also opened, back then it was called the Royal street and it was followed in the 1930s by Mussolini Boulevard, which is today Kavaja Street.
The boulevard Zog I was built in the beginning of the 1930s and was followed by the building of the Six Italian sites which today host the ministries and the municipality.