Roots EarthAll cities

Albania · Europe

Roots Earth in Tirana: audio stories about 39 places

Roots Earth has audio stories about 39 places in Tirana, Albania, in Europe. The Tirana stories are in all seven Roots Earth languages: English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The app needs no account: open Tirana, pick a place on the city's map of places and play. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection. The stories are written by local people.

The 39 places are listed below in the order the app shows them, and again further down with their coordinates and their local names. The lists were taken from the Roots Earth catalogue on 15 September 2026.

Published 16 September 2026. Markdown: tirana.md

The 39 places in Tirana with audio stories

In the order the app shows them, with the local name after the English one where the catalogue carries one.

  1. Skanderbeg Square (Sheshi Skënderbej)
  2. National Museum Mosaic (Mozaiku i Muzeut Kombëtar)
  3. Hotel Tirana Internacional; locally 15-Katëshi (Hotel Tirana Internacional)
  4. Palace of Culture (Pallati i Kulturës)
  5. Et'hem Bey Mosque (Xhamia e Et'hem Beut)
  6. Clock Tower (Kulla e Sahatit)
  7. Halveti Tekke (Teqja e Halvetive)
  8. The Nine-Story Buildings (9-Katëshet)
  9. New Bazaar (Pazari i Ri)
  10. Institute of Former Political Persecutees (Instituti i Ish-të Dënuarve Politikë)
  11. Tanners' Bridge (Ura e Tabakëve)
  12. Namazgah Mosque (Xhamia e Namazgjasë)
  13. Academy of Sciences (Akademia e Shkencave)
  14. Tirana Castle (Kalaja e Tiranës)
  15. Saint Paul's Cathedral (Katedralja e Shën Palit)
  16. Bunk'Art 2
  17. National Theatre (Teatri Kombëtar)
  18. Martyrs of the Nation Boulevard (Bulevardi "Dëshmorët e Kombit")
  19. Hotel Dajti
  20. Pyramid of Tirana (Piramida e Tiranës)
  21. Prime Minister's Office (Kryeministria)
  22. Parliament of Albania (Kuvendi i Shqipërisë)
  23. Palace of Congresses (Pallati i Kongreseve)
  24. Polytechnic University of Tirana (Universiteti Politeknik i Tiranës)
  25. Air Albania Stadium (Stadiumi Air Albania)
  26. Postblock (Postblloku)
  27. The Block (Blloku)
  28. The Shallvaret Quarter (Shallvaret)
  29. Youth Park (Parku i Rinisë)
  30. Resurrection of Christ Cathedral (Katedralja e Ngjalljës së Krishtit)
  31. House of Leaves (Shtëpia me Gjethe)
  32. Bank of Albania (Banka e Shqipërisë)
  33. Mosaic of 21 December Street (Mozaiku i 21 Dhjetorit)
  34. Textile Factory Complex (Kombinati i Tekstileve)
  35. Artificial Lake (Liqeni Artificial)
  36. Petrela Castle (Kalaja e Petrelës)
  37. New Albania Film Studio (Kinostudio "Shqipëria e Re")
  38. BunkArt 1
  39. Dajti Cable Car (Teleferiku i Dajtit)

Is there an audio guide for Skanderbeg Square?

Yes. Skanderbeg Square has its audio stories in the Roots Earth app: a short introduction and a deeper story, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian.

It is place 1 of the 39 Tirana places in the app, at 41.3285484, 19.8176642. Every one of the other 38 places in the list above has the same two stories.

Roots Earth is not a guided tour: you choose the place on the city's map of places and play its story yourself.

How to use Roots Earth in Tirana

Open Roots Earth and choose Tirana. The city has its own map of places with all 39 of them on it. Tap the place you are standing in front of, or any other, and play its short introduction or its deeper story. You decide what to listen to and in which order.

You can listen in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian, and there is no account. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection.

In full

All 39 places in Tirana, in the app's order, with their coordinates.

All 39 places in Tirana, with coordinates

Every place below has a short introduction and a deeper story in the Roots Earth app, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The names, the coordinates (latitude, longitude) and the one line descriptions are the app's own catalogue values of 15 September 2026; a place without a line here has none that this page can print.

1. Skanderbeg Square

Local name
Sheshi Skënderbej
Coordinates
41.3285484, 19.8176642
In one line
The heart of Tirana, the redesigned central square that brings together the Ottoman, communist and modern layers of the capital's history.

2. National Museum Mosaic

Local name
Mozaiku i Muzeut Kombëtar
Coordinates
41.3294212, 19.816709
In one line
Above the entrance of the National Historical Museum gleams the monumental mosaic "The Albanians", 565 square metres with tesserae from Murano, created in 1981 by five Albanian artists. It was fully restored in 2023 with about one million euros in European Union funds.

3. Hotel Tirana Internacional

Local name
15-Katëshi (Hotel Tirana Internacional)
Coordinates
41.3298448, 19.8186389
In one line
Built between 1969 and 1979, the Fifteen-Storey Building was the tallest in Albania for more than four decades. It was designed by Valentina Pistoli, the first Albanian woman architect, on the site of a demolished Orthodox church.

4. Palace of Culture

Local name
Pallati i Kulturës
Coordinates
41.328813, 19.8192604
In one line
The foundation stone was laid by Khrushchev in 1959 as "a gift from the Soviet people". After the Soviet-Albanian split, the building was completed by Albanian architects, and today it houses the Theatre of Opera and Ballet and the National Library.

5. Et'hem Bey Mosque

Local name
Xhamia e Et'hem Beut
Coordinates
41.3277959, 19.8193253
In one line
Built between 1794 and 1821, the Et'hem Bey Mosque stands out for its frescoes of landscapes and gardens, a rarity in Islamic architecture. It survived communism and reopened spontaneously on 18 January 1991.

6. Clock Tower

Local name
Kulla e Sahatit
Coordinates
41.3277033, 19.8196826
In one line
Raised next to the mosque by Haxhi Et'hem Bey in 1822, the 35-metre-high tower has marked the rhythm of the city for more than two centuries. The first mechanism came from Venice, while the clock and the bell still chime today.

7. Halveti Tekke

Local name
Teqja e Halvetive
Coordinates
41.329417, 19.8210352
In one line
A Halveti tekke in the heart of Tirana, closed during communism and rebuilt stone by stone by Sheikh Muamer Pazari, where the faithful still gather every week for the dhikr ritual.

8. The Nine-Story Buildings

Local name
9-Katëshet
Coordinates
41.3294265, 19.8215096
In one line
The nine-storey apartment blocks near Skanderbeg Square became the tallest residential buildings in Albania before 1990, defied the unwritten limit that no residence should rise above the Palace of Culture, and brought the elevator that children would come to try in secret.

9. New Bazaar

Local name
Pazari i Ri
Coordinates
41.3302464, 19.8243503
In one line
Developed as an offshoot near the Old Bazaar that was demolished in 1959, this market, fully reconstructed in 2016 and 2017, brings together fruit and vegetables, fish and cafés in a new central square beneath white canopies.

10. Institute of Former Political Persecutees

Local name
Instituti i Ish-të Dënuarve Politikë
Coordinates
41.3261811, 19.8251171
In one line
Built in 1933 as the Italian Legation by the architect Sadi Pashallari, this eclectic building facing the Parliament today houses the Institute for the Integration of Former Political Persecutees, which deals with the rights and integration of those persecuted under the communist dictatorship.

11. Tanners' Bridge

Local name
Ura e Tabakëve
Coordinates
41.3264243, 19.8260496
In one line
The Ottoman stone bridge over the Lana river, raised around the end of the seventeenth or the beginning of the eighteenth century, is one of the oldest surviving monuments in Tirana and recalls the tanners' quarter that gave life to this side of the city.

12. Namazgah Mosque

Local name
Xhamia e Namazgjasë
Coordinates
41.3257216, 19.8242425
In one line
The largest mosque in the Balkans, opened in 2024 near the parliament and financed mainly by the Turkish Diyanet, closing a fifty-seven-year void left by the state atheism of the communist regime.

13. Academy of Sciences

Local name
Akademia e Shkencave
Coordinates
41.3262922, 19.8229763
In one line
Three institutions in a single body of stone: the legislative organs of the new state, the proclamation of Ahmet Zogu as King of the Albanians in 1928, and today the Academy of Sciences. The building was given its present form by the architect Kristo Sotiri, while the northern entrance with its monumental staircase belongs to a later phase of interventions.

14. Tirana Castle

Local name
Kalaja e Tiranës
Coordinates
41.3259121, 19.8225525
In one line
The remains of a medieval fortification, today rebuilt as a public space with shops, restaurants and galleries.

15. Saint Paul's Cathedral

Local name
Katedralja e Shën Palit
Coordinates
41.3247984, 19.8218272
In one line
The main Catholic cathedral of Tirana, raised after the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1993 and consecrated in 2002. It combines minimalist modern architecture with the memory of religious revival after decades of prohibition.

16. Bunk'Art 2

Coordinates
41.3270225, 19.8195506
In one line
This underground bunker in the centre of Tirana has been turned into a museum that documents political persecution and the mechanisms of control during the communist regime. Today it is one of the city's most powerful spaces of public memory.

17. National Theatre

Local name
Teatri Kombëtar
Coordinates
41.3265173, 19.8204815
In one line
The National Theatre, built in 1939 by the Italian architect Giulio Bertè, was demolished on the morning of 17 May 2020 by special forces, after two years of civic resistance in its defence.

18. Martyrs of the Nation Boulevard

Local name
Bulevardi "Dëshmorët e Kombit"
Coordinates
41.3232035, 19.8198782
In one line
The monumental axis of Tirana that links Skanderbeg Square with the Polytechnic University, designed by Italian architects and reworked by three regimes, the monarchy, communism and democracy, each writing over the traces of the other without erasing them.

19. Hotel Dajti

Coordinates
41.3246158, 19.8201346
In one line
Tirana's most famous hotel, designed by Gherardo Bosio with Gio Ponti as consultant between 1939 and 1942, once an exclusive space for the communist elite filled with waiters and listening devices, today an office and library of the Bank of Albania.

20. Pyramid of Tirana

Local name
Piramida e Tiranës
Coordinates
41.323019, 19.8215893
In one line
Originally built as a museum for Enver Hoxha, the Pyramid has gone through several major transformations and remains one of Tirana's most debated symbols. Its history mirrors the very changes of the city after communism.

21. Prime Minister's Office

Local name
Kryeministria
Coordinates
41.3217546, 19.8213434
In one line
The Prime Minister's Office building, an Italian rationalist project by Gherardo Bosio begun in 1939, today bears on its façade a socialist-realist bas-relief by a team of four sculptors and welcomes the public on the ground floor through the COD, the Centre for Openness and Dialogue.

22. Parliament of Albania

Local name
Kuvendi i Shqipërisë
Coordinates
41.3259852, 19.823048
In one line
Begun in 1940 as the Fascist Insurance Institute by the Italian architect Giuseppe Paladini and completed in the Stalinist style in 1956 by Anton Lufi, this building on Dëshmorët e Kombit Boulevard served as the headquarters of the Central Committee and of Enver Hoxha's office, and today it houses the Presidency of the Assembly.

23. Palace of Congresses

Local name
Pallati i Kongreseve
Coordinates
41.3192651, 19.8220888
In one line
A circular concrete disc fifty-four metres in diameter, built between 1982 and 1986 for the congresses of the Party of Labour, today it is the home of the Festival of Song and Albania's road to Eurovision.

24. Polytechnic University of Tirana

Local name
Universiteti Politeknik i Tiranës
Coordinates
41.3166196, 19.8217354
In one line
A monumental building with stone masonry, designed by Gherardo Bosio and built between 1939 and 1942 as the Casa del Fascio, the headquarters of the Fascist Party, was transformed in 1951 into the Polytechnic University of Tirana, the country's main centre of technical training.

25. Air Albania Stadium

Local name
Stadiumi Air Albania
Coordinates
41.3183889, 19.8245757
In one line
The Arena Kombëtare, designed by Marco Casamonti and inaugurated in 2019, combines the stadium with shops, offices and a 112-metre hotel tower, preserving the monumental entrance by architect Gherardo Bosio from the earlier Qemal Stafa stadium.

26. Postblock

Local name
Postblloku
Coordinates
41.3209619, 19.8201492
In one line
A small memorial near the Blloku, with iron bars from the Spaç mine, a bunker and a piece of the Berlin Wall. Postblloku is a concentrated remembrance of Albania's dictatorship and isolation.

27. The Block

Local name
Blloku
Coordinates
41.3213333, 19.8160663
In one line
Once a closed zone for the communist elite, the Blloku is today Tirana's liveliest neighbourhood, with cafés, bars, restaurants and nightlife. The contrast between its isolated past and today's vibrancy makes it one of the city's most meaningful spaces.

28. The Shallvaret Quarter

Local name
Shallvaret
Coordinates
41.3239744, 19.8172935
In one line
A residential complex in the Stalinist neoclassical style near Skanderbeg Square, with Gani Strazimiri as its principal architect, raised over a former sports field, where the construction of the adjoining Agimi buildings is also linked to the labour of political prisoners.

29. Youth Park

Local name
Parku i Rinisë
Coordinates
41.3247789, 19.818223
In one line
About 3 hectares of greenery in the heart of Tirana, known to everyone as Tajvani, a name left behind by a café complex built during Albania's break with China, and which survives today as the capital's most democratic meeting place.

30. Resurrection of Christ Cathedral

Local name
Katedralja e Ngjalljës së Krishtit
Coordinates
41.3265001, 19.8173682
In one line
The old Orthodox cathedral was torn down in 1967, when Albania was proclaimed the world's first atheist state. The new cathedral, designed by Steven P. Papadatos, was consecrated on 24 June 2012 as a symbol of the return of faith.

31. House of Leaves

Local name
Shtëpia me Gjethe
Coordinates
41.3264667, 19.8163272
In one line
The former eavesdropping centre of the State Security is today a museum that documents the surveillance, the control and the fear of the dictatorship. The House of Leaves is one of the most powerful sites of memory of the communist regime.

32. Bank of Albania

Local name
Banka e Shqipërisë
Coordinates
41.3277328, 19.8168119
In one line
An elegant building with a red-brick facade, designed in 1937 by the Italian architect Vittorio Morpurgo, a Jew who was building for the fascist regime while the Italian racial laws stripped him of the right to practise his profession.

33. Mosaic of 21 December Street

Local name
Mozaiku i 21 Dhjetorit
Coordinates
41.3300636, 19.8042492
In one line
The Mosaic of Tirana is the floor of a Roman villa from the 1st century CE, discovered by chance in 1972 under the foundations of the "Partizani" block. The geometric motifs, the fish and the hidden cross attest to an early Christian community on top of which the socialist quarter "Twenty-One December" was later raised.

34. Textile Factory Complex

Local name
Kombinati i Tekstileve
Coordinates
41.3147222, 19.765
In one line
The former "Stalin" Textile Combine, a Soviet gift opened in 1951 across 22 hectares, today an urban neighbourhood that still keeps the traces of the communist factory-city.

35. Artificial Lake

Local name
Liqeni Artificial
Coordinates
41.311489, 19.8294547
In one line
A 60-hectare artificial lake inside Tirana's Grand Park, built in the 1950s with the work of "volunteers" and today the green lung of the capital.

36. Petrela Castle

Local name
Kalaja e Petrelës
Coordinates
41.2548491, 19.8545813
In one line
This medieval castle on the hill of Petrela, about 17 kilometres from Tirana, is closely linked to the time of Skanderbeg.

37. New Albania Film Studio

Local name
Kinostudio "Shqipëria e Re"
Coordinates
41.3457339, 19.8487303
In one line
The only film studio of communist Albania, built in 1952 with Soviet help, where between 1952 and 1991 232 feature films, 700 documentaries and 150 animated films were produced.

38. BunkArt 1

Coordinates
41.3531404, 19.8612073
In one line
Enver Hoxha's secret bunker on Mount Dajti, with 106 rooms and around 3,000 square metres of concrete, was built as a shelter for the leadership in case of nuclear war. Today it functions as a museum of history and contemporary art.

39. Dajti Cable Car

Local name
Teleferiku i Dajtit
Coordinates
41.3507757, 19.8610574
In one line
The longest cable car in the Balkans, built by the Austrian company Doppelmayr in 2005, which climbs in 15 to 20 minutes from Linza to the upper station of Mount Dajti, at 1,050 metres above sea level.

Roots Earth in short

Roots Earth has audio stories about 5,665 places in 130 cities, 25 countries and 6 regions, written by local people.

  • No account
  • Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection
  • Audio stories in English and German in every city, and in Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian in 126 of the 130 cities

Roots Earth for Android is available on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rootsearth.app.