Informations on Tirana

About Tirana

Tirana (Albanian: Tiranë or Tirana) is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Albania. It was founded in 1614 by Sulejman Pasha and became Albania's capital city in 1920.

Tirana is located at (41.33°N, 19.82°E) in the eponymous district and county. Its average altitude is 110 meters (361 ft) above sea level. It lies on the Ishëm River, about 20 miles (32 km) inland.

Population

In 1703, Tirana had 4,000 inhabitants and by 1820 there were 12,000. The city's population rose to 30,000 by 1930 and 70,000 in 1945, despite the intervening years of foreign occupation and war. During the 1950s, Tirana experienced rapid industrial growth, and the population rose to 137,000 by 1960.

After the end of communist rule in 1991, Tirana experienced its fastest population growth when people from rural areas moved to the capital to find a better life. In 1990, Tirana had 300,000 inhabitants, but the large-scale influx since then from other parts of the country has increased the population to well over 500,000.

Etymology

There are a number of theories concerning the origin of the name:

History

The area now occupied by the city of Tirana has been populated since Neolithic times, as evidenced by various remains discovered there. A castle, possibly called Tirkan, was built by Emperor Justinian in 520 AD and restored by Ahmed Pasha Toptani in the 18th century. The area had no especial importance in Illyrian and Classical times. There were medieval settlements in the area at Preza, Ndroq, Lalmi and Petrela Castle. In 1418, Marin Barleti, an Albanian Catholic priest and scholar, the first to write a history of Albania, referred to "Plenum Tyrenae," a small village. There are references to "Tirana e Madhe" and "Tirana e Vogël" (Greater and Lesser Tirana).

The records of the first land registrations under the Ottomans in 1431-32 show that Tirana consisted of 60 inhabited areas, with nearly 1,000 houses and 7,300 inhabitants. The 1583 registration records that Tirana had 110 inhabited areas, with 2,900 houses and 20,000 inhabitants.

Süleiman Pasha Mulleti (or Sulejman Pasha), a local ruler, established the Ottoman town in 1614 with a mosque, a commercial centre and a hammam (Turkish sauna). The town was located along caravan routes and grew rapidly in importance until the early 19th century. During this period, the mosque in the centre of Tirana, the Et'hem Bey Mosque designed by Molla Bey of Petrela, began to be constructed. It employed the best artisans in the country and was completed in 1821 by Molla's son, who was also Sulejman Pasha's grand-nephew. After 1816, Tirana languished under the control of the Toptani family of Kruja.

On February 8, 1920, Tirana was chosen as the temporary capital of Albania, which had acquired independence in 1912, by the Congress of Lushnja. The city retained that status permanently on December 31, 1925. Since 1925, when they were banned in Turkey, the Bektashis, an order of dervishes who take their name from Haji Bektash, a Sufi saint of the 13th and 14th centuries, made Tirana their primary settlement. The first regulatory plan of the city was compiled in 1923 by Estef Frashëri. Durrësi Street was opened in 1922 and was called Nana Mbretneshë (Mother Queen). Many houses and surrounding properties were demolished to make way for it. The existing parliamentary building was raised in 1924 and first served as a club for officers. It was there, in September 1928, that King Zog I was crowned King.

The centre of Tirana was the project of Florestano de Fausto and Armando Brasini, well known architects of the Mussolini period in Italy. The Palace of Brigades, the government ministry buildings, the National Bank and the Municipality are their work. The Dëshmoret e Kombit (National Martyrs) Boulevard was built in 1930 and named "Zogu I Boulevard." In the communist period, the part from Skënderbeg Square up to the train station was named Stalin Boulevard. Tirana was occupied until 1944, first by the Italians, and then by the Germans. The Nazis eventually withdrew and the communists seized power.

A series of explosion at an army depot near Tirana March 15, 2008 killed at least fifteen and injured 243 people, including many children, and damaged the city's nearby International Airport Nënë Tereza.

Health

The largest hospital in Tirana is Mother Theresa Hospital, which is associated with University of Tirana, Faculty of Medicine. The Hospital is a 1,456 bed facility that offers comprehensive in patient tertiary care to over 12,000 patients annually. The hospital is currently undergoing major changes in infrastructure and equipment.

Climate

Tirana has a generally Mediterranean climate. The average temperature varies from a low of 5°C in January to a high of 31°C in July. The driest months are July and August, each with less than 1cm of precipitation on average, while the wettest months are October, November and December, averaging over 3cm each.

Districts

The two oldest neighbourhoods are Mujos and Pazari, located between the geographical centre and Elbasani Street on either side of the Lana River. In 2000, the centre of Tirana, from the central campus of Tirana University up to Skënderbeg Square, was declared the place of Cultural Assembly and given special claims to state protection. In the same year, the area began a process of restoration under the name  »˜Return to Identity.' The area to the west of the university, adjacent to Saint Prokopi park, was formerly reserved for the occupation of important government and party officials. It remains a desirable residential area.

Economy

Tirana is Albania's major industrial centre. It has experienced rapid growth and established many new industries since the 1920s. The principal industries include agricultural products and machinery, textiles, pharmaceuticals, and metal products.

Tirana began to develop in the beginning of the 16th century, when a bazaar was established, and its craftsmen manufactured silk and cotton fabrics, leather, ceramics and iron, silver, and gold artifacts. Sited in a fertile plain, the Tirana area exported 2,600 barrels of olive oil and 14,000 packages of tobacco to Venice by 1769. In 1901, it had 140,000 olive trees, 400 oil mills, and 700 shops. Tirana is currently trying to develop a tourist industry, although this effort has been hampered by the lack of infrastructure and the perception of political instability in the region.

Education

Tirana hosts the University of Tirana, founded in 1957, and other governmental and social buildings such as the Albanian Institute of Sciences, the Academy of Arts, the Agricultural University, the Military Academy, the Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the People's Assembly, and the High Court.

In addition to the public universities, Tirana is host to private academic institutions, such as University of New York, Tirana, Universiteti Marin Barleti, Epoka University, etc.

Environment

The city suffers from problems related to overpopulation, such as waste management, lack of running water and electricity as well as extremely high levels of air pollution from the 300,000 cars moving around the city. The problem is exacerbated by aging infrastructure. Despite the problems, Tirana has also experienced a very rapid growth in the construction of new buildings, especially in the suburbs, where many of the new neighbourhoods do not yet have street names. In recent years pollution has worsened as the number of cars has increased to several orders of magnitude. These are mostly older, diesel cars that pollute much more than the newer models in circulation elsewhere in Europe. Additionally, most of the fuel used in Albania contains larger amounts of sulphur and lead than that allowed in European Union countries. In recent years pollution from construction has become a major concern for the inhabitants of the city. Moreover, green spaces in densely populated areas are scarce. Another peril to the city comes from untreated solid waste.

Saint Prokopi park, a vast forested park in the outskirts of the city, has some effect on absorbing CO²emissions. Tirana is cleaned by governmental workers everyday, and trees have been planted around many sidewalks.

Transport

National and international transport links have developed over recent years as demand has increased. Until recent years, overland connections through Greece and Montenegro have had various problems with bureaucracy or security. The following section is liable to change and is only indicative.

International coach services connect to Greece, via Korçë and then taxis to the border, to Kosovo, and to Republic of Macedonia. Coach and minibus services run, according to demand, to the coast and northern and southern Albania from different locations in Tirana. Local transport within Tirana is by bus or taxi.

There are regular passenger services to Durrës and Pogradec, via Elbasan. The railway station is north of Skanderbeg Square, in Boulevard Zogu I. There are no international passenger services, although there is a freight-only railway through Shkodër to Montenegro (though this is currently disused).

Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza (Mother Theresa in Albanian), also known as Rinas Airport, is located 25 kilometres north-west of the city, off the road to Durrës. Airlines using Rinas include Albanian Airlines and Ada Air. Flights run to Athens, New York, Rimini, Bari, Genova, Rome, Bologna, Munich, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Vienna and Pristina, among other places.

Several foreign airlines also serve Rinas Airport: Alitalia (from Rome and Milan), British Airways (from London Gatwick Airport), Austrian Airlines (from Vienna), Adria Airways (Ljubljana), Jat Airways (Belgrade), Malev (Budapest), Olympic Airlines (Athens), Hemus Air (Sofia) and Turkish Airlines (Istanbul). Belle Air is set to have direct flights to the US in late 2007. Lufthansa flights via Munich started on 1 May 2007. Each Monday, there is a direct flight from Tirana to J.F.K. Airport, New York, USA.

Tirana does not have a port of its own. However, the port city of Durrës is no more than half an hour away from the capital. Passenger ferries from Durrës sail to Trieste (Italy), Koper (Slovenia) and there is a fast catamaran service to Bari (Italy).