Olympic Park

The Tirana Olympic Park Feti Borova is a multi-purpose arena in Tirana, Albania. The Government of Albania held a public tender for the construction of a sports hall in order to host games. Much of the construction for the remaining buildings is still underway.

31st Birthday

I recently celebrated my 31st birthday in Tirana, Albania and though I wouldn’t necessarily have planned to celebrate it here, I had a great time. The pictures with the cake were actually taken a month ago in Istanbul, where I celebrated before leaving to Serbia - and sorry for the graininess. As Trump would say: “It is what it is.”

I don’t have any pictures from my actual birthday on the 7th as, despite running a blog, I didn’t feel that everything needs to constantly be documented. I did a pub trivia and had some drinks and fun conversations with people I met while here. I also got the news that Biden had won the elections (after several grueling days watching CNN with no results) as soon as I got to the bar, so there was a lot to celebrate on Saturday. Tomorrow I’ll take a bus to Kosovo and repeat the process of getting a new SIM card, finding a gym, and exploring a new city.

History Museum

The National Museum of History was opened in 1981 (and feels like it was) and is 27,000 square meters in size.

Above the entrance of the museum is a large mural mosaic titled The Albanians that depicts purported ancient to modern figures from Albania's history. The museum includes the following pavilions: the Pavilion of Antiquity, Middle Ages, Renaissance, Independence, Iconography, National Liberation Antifascist War, Communist Terror, and Mother Teresa.

Air Albania

• Mother Teresa Square is the second largest square in Tirana, Albania. and named after the Albanian Roman Catholic nun and missionary — Mother Teresa.

• Arena Kombëtare, officially called Air Albania Stadium, has a seating capacity of 22,500 and is the largest stadium in Albania. At one corner of the stadium structure is an 112-meter tall tower (24 floors), which today is the tallest tower in Albania.

Bunk’Art 2

This an excellent re-imagining of a Communist-era nuclear bunker, Bunk’Art 2 museum and art space reflects Tirana’s initiative to use culture to celebrate the birth of a new era, whilst remembering its solemn past.

Bunk’Art 2, at approximately 1,000 m2 in size, is the second of two nuclear bunkers in Tirana that has recently transformed into an interactive artistic space. Secretly built from 1981-86, beneath the Ministry of Internal Affairs along the city’s main boulevard, the underground structure was given the code name ‘Object Pole’ in order to keep its construction undetected.

The journey through this tunnel unmasks the pathological isolation and paranoia felt by Albania for 45 years. Each of its 24 rooms recount stories of the political persecutions of approximately 100,000 Albanians from 1945-1991, the creation of Sigurimi (the state security) during Communism, and exhibitions showing the state’s means of persecution during this dark period of history. The journey nicely concludes on the boulevard facing the setting sun, aptly symbolizing the idea that all tyrannical regimes eventually end.

*The rectangular piece of concrete with graffiti is a piece of the Berlin Wall.

Vote

Happy Election Day! My friend from Germany made these and it’s still baffling that the world is so enthralled with US elections. I can’t imagine ever waking up at 3am to watch German elections. (No offense Pauline…)

Skanderbeg Square

Skanderbeg Square is where Tirana’s premier monuments are all assembled, including the Clock Tower, Et’hem Bey Mosque and the National History Museum. It is named after George Castriot, an Albanian national hero, credited with halting the advance of the Ottoman Empire into central Europe. There’s a monument to Skanderbeg in the square, which occupies the spot where a communist-era statue of Josef Stalin once stood. The architecture surrounding the square is neo-renaissance, and there’s a large lawn with flower beds to round off the stately atmosphere. Skanderbeg is the city’s main venue for popular celebrations, such as 100 years of Albanian Independence in 2012.

Piramida

Piramida is an unforgettable and culturally-significant building from 1987, completed not long before the fall of communism. It was intended as a museum to honor the country’s despotic dictator Enver Hoxha who ruled from 1944-85, but naturally, these plans were torn up after 1990. Now it’s at the crux of a debate on how to deal with the period after the Second World War when Albania suffered 45 years of isolation.

The white “thing” is an ultra-modern installation located in front of the National Art Gallery. It was designed by Suo Fujimoto and dedicated to Albania by the Luma Foundation to promote art in the country.