Established as early as in 1614 the city of Tirana is the capital of Albania since 1920.
The best place to see the city is the large Skanderbeg square. It is located in the centre of Tirana and bounded by the Dajti Mountain (1,612 meters above the sea level) in the east. The market situated near the square is also worth to be explored in details: you can hardly find in any place of Europe a real bazaar with its indispensable attributes such as beggars and pickpockets.
The National Historic Museum, the largest and the richest museum of Albania, is located near Tirana International Hotel (this fifteen-storey building is the highest one in this country and its whole façade is covered with large mosaic fresco).
There is the Palace of Culture with its own theatre, restaurant, café and art galleries to the east from the hotel. This building is outlined against other ones by its obvious socialist trend. One can get into the National Library from the southern side of the Palace of Culture. There is a minaret and the dome of the Et’hem Bey Mosque built in 1789-1823 right opposite the entrance to the Library. Tirana Clock Tower (1830) rises near the Mosque.
White marble walls of the former Enver Hoxha Museum (“Piramida”) rise along the river embankment. Time to time it is used as a venue of various exhibitions. In future this building is planned to turn into an International Center of Culture with the largest discotheque in Europe.
There is the Archeological Museum with exhibits of prehistoric and middle ages periods and the modern Assembly Palace in the south of Tirana on the Boulevard of Dëshmorët e Kombit. And the best city view is opened up from the Martyrs Cemetery where it is necessary to see the monument under the name of Mother Albania.
The sights of Tirana also include the Museum of Natural History, the Museum of National Culture and the beautiful Art Gallery.