Tirana’s history, culture in pictures

TIRANA, Jan. 5 – A photo exhibition featuring the traditions and history of Albania’s capital, Tirana, has opened at the newly established Museum of Monumental Clock Towers in the city centre. The city’s most representative personalities and cultural heritage are also features in black and white as well as coloured pictures.
Tirana was established in 1614 by Sulejman Pasha from the village of Mullet. Firstly, he constructed a mosque, a bakery and a Turkish sauna.
However, the capital outskirts boast settlements and archeological heritage dating back from ancient times such as the Paleochristian basilica near Peza of the 3rd century (Durak village), and the 4th century basilica of Tirana or the Church of Kroi i Sh쯧jinit.
The Tirana district also has two fortresses, the 4th-century Petrela fortress and the 15th- century Preza fortress.
The exhibition next to the Tirana Clock Tower is open to the public on Mondays and Thursdays.
The history of Albanian clock towers will soon be displayed in the first museum of monumental clocks which is being established in the Tirana. The museum, situated next to Tirana’s Clock Tower in the city centre, in the place known as the “the clockmakers’ shop” will have on display designs and photos of clock towers in Albanian cities during the 16th and 17th centuries when Albania was under the Ottoman rule.
Sulejman Dashi, an architect and restorer who is working on the clocks’ designs says “the construction of the clock towers is a testimony that the society of these cities was emancipated even though in small numbers. The clock towers were part of the working culture.”
The first clock tower in an Albanian inhabited town dates back in 1555 in nowadays Skopje, Macedonia, followed by those of the central Albanian towns of Elbasan and Peqin.
The clock tower of Peqin is the most special because it is placed in the mosque’s minaret.
The restorer says that the clock towers, a tradition brought by the Ottoman empire, speak of the religious co-existence in Albanian towns.
“The clock towers were placed not only next to mosques. The Orthodox and Catholic clerics also influenced on their construction,” restorer Sulejman Dashi told local media.
Last year, Tirana’s Clock Tower, a symbol of the capital and one of its oldest buildings, was restored under a special USD 30,000 fund awarded by former US Ambassador to Albania, John Withers.
The 19-century Clock Tower had its clock mechanism and bell repaired.
Built in 1822, the 35-metre Clock Tower has 90 spiral steps and was the tallest building in the capital until 1970. The Tower is located in the heart of the capital next to the Et’hem Beu Mosque. Its clock has been replaced several times most recently in 1970 with a Chinese one. The Clock Tower has been open to tourists since 1996.