Durrës Durrës
is the second largest city in Albania. It is the oldest and one of the wi
rtschaftlichsten important cities of Albania. It is on the main Albanian coast at [show location on an interactive map] 41 ° 19 N 19 ° 27 E / 41 317, located 19.45Coordinates: [show location on an interactive map] 41 ° 19 N 19 ° 27 E / 41 317 , 19.45, about 33 km (20 miles) west of the capital Tirana. It is one of the narrowest point of the Adriatic Sea, opposite the Italian ports of Bari (300 km away) and Brindisi (200 km away) situated. It has a Population of about 114,000 (2003 estimate). The city of Durres hosts Albania newest public university, the Aleksander Moisiu University. - Name
The city is known by many different names in different languages due to its varied colorful history, including the Greek name Epidamnos (Επίδαμνος) and Dyrhacchion (Δυρράχιον) the Latin Dyrrachium, the Bulgarian and Serbian Drach and the Drac (Драч), the Ottoman Turkish Dirac and the Italian Durazzo.
For other names by which Durrës known, you see other names of Durres .
- history
Epidamnos was found that for a politically advanced society, the ancient philosopher Aristotle to praise its political system. However, Corinth and CORCYRA quarreled about the city, in precipitation of the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC.
Roman and Byzantine rule Epidamnos Glaukias was seized by the king of Illyria, in 312 BC, but after a war with the Roman Republic in 229 BC ended in a decisive defeat of the Illyrians, the city of Rome rule under which it was developed as a great military and naval base. The Romans renamed It Dyrrachium (Greek: Δυρράχιον / Dyrrhachium). They considered the name to Epidamnos ominous because of its very random similarities with the Latin word damnum, which means "loss" or "damage". The importance of Dyrrachium ("bad spine" or "difficult ridge" in Greek) is unclear, but it was suggested that it refers to the imposing cliffs near the city. Julius Caesar's rival Pompey from a booth in 48 BC, before fleeing south to Greece. Under Roman rule, Dyrrachium flourished, it was the western end of the Via Egnatia, the great Roman road, which led to Thessaloniki and on to Constantinople. Another smaller road leading south to the city Buthrotum, modern Butrint. The Roman emperor Caesar Augustus, the city has a colony for veterans of his legions to the Battle of Actium, proclaiming it a civitas libera (free town).
In 4th Century AD, Dyrrachium became the capital of the Roman province of Epirus Nova. It was the birthplace of the Emperor Anastasius I in about 430th Some time later that century, was destroyed Dyrrachium by a strong earthquake, the city defenses. Anastasius I rebuilt and reinforced the walls, making the strongest fortresses in the countries the Western Balkans. The 12m (36ft)-high walls were so thick that, after the Byzantine historian Anna Comnena, four horsemen could ride abreast of them. Major parts of the ancient city defense ever since, though they are very much reduced over the centuries.
provinciae How much of the rest of the Balkans, and the surrounding Dyrrachium Dyrraciensis suffered considerably from barbarian invasions during the migration period. It was besieged in 481 by Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, and had in later centuries repel frequent attacks of the Bulgarians. Regardless of the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the city as part of the Byzantine Empire as a major port and an important link between the Empire and Western Europe.
Durrës - conquered Old City Wall
- medieval
Dyrrachium was lost in February 1082 by the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, who defeated at the hands of the Normans (Robert Guiscard and his son Bohemond (see Battle of Dyrrhachium (1081)). Byzantine control was restored the following century, after the defeat of Bohemond in 1107 But the city was lost again in 1185, this time to the Norman King William II of Sicily. In 1202, during the Fourth Crusade, the city became the rule of the Venetian Republic. It happened in the hands of Manfred of Sicily and then Charles I of Sicily (Charles of Anjou) in 1268th
Five years later, in about 1273 it was destroyed by a devastating Earthquake (after George Pachymeres, Elsie R., Early Albania (2003), p. 12), but soon recovered and became an independent duchy under the reign of Charles' grandson, John of Anjou. It later came under the reign of Philip I of Taranto. In 1333 it was annexed to the Frankish principality of Achaia ago, the Serbian Tsar Stefan Dušan in just 1336th If Dušan died in 1355, the city in the hands of the Albanian family of Thopias.
The Republic of Venice in 1392 and retained control of the city, known as Durazzo in those years, as part of the Albania Veneta. He resisted a siege by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II in 1466, but went to them in 1501.
Durrës was a Christian city pretty early on, his bishop was by 58 AD and the status of an archbishopric in 449th It is also the seat of a Greek Orthodox metropolitan bishop. Under Turkish rule, many of its inhabitants converted to Islam and many mosques were built. This city was renamed in Dirac, the city can not prosper under the Ottomans and their importance decreased significantly. By the mid-19th Century, its population was said to have been only about 1,000 people in about 200 households. His decrepitude was established by foreign observers in the early 20th Century: "The walls are dilapidated; plane trees grow on the giant Ruins of the old Byzantine citadel;. And the port, once as large and safe, is gradually silted up "
- 20th century
was an active city in the Albanian national liberation movement in the periods 1878-1881 and 1910-1912. Qemali Ismail raised the Albanian flag on November 26, 1912 but the town three days later by the Serbs during the First Balkan War. The city became Albania's first national capital on March 7, 1913 under the short reign of the Prince William of Wied.
During World War II The city was occupied by Italy in 1915 and by Austria-Hungary in 1916-1918. It was built by the Allies in October 1918. Again in Albanian sovereignty, Durrës the country was its temporary capital between 1918 and March 1920. He experienced an economic boom built by Italian investment and developed into an important seaport during the reign of King Zog, with a modern port in 1927.
An earthquake in 1926 damaged part of the city and reconstruction in connection gave the city its more modern appearance. The Second World War saw Durazzo be (so-called Durazzo back in Italian) and the rest of Albania annexed to the Kingdom Italy between 1939-1943, then occupied by Nazi Germany to 1944th Durazzo's strategic value as a seaport, made it a high-profile military target for both sides. It was the site of Italy's first landing on 7 April 1939 and the launch of the ill-fated Italian invasion of Greece. The city was heavily damaged by Allied bombing during the war and the docks were blown up by the German retreat in 1944.
The communist regime of Enver Hoxha quickly rebuilt the city after the war, to create a variety of heavy industry in the region and the expansion of the port. It was the terminus of Albania's first railway, begun in 1947. In the late 1980s the city was renamed shortly Durrës - Enver Hoxha.
After the collapse of communist rule in 1990, Durrës the focus of the mass emigration from Albania with hijacked ships in the harbor and sailed at gunpoint to Italy. In one month alone, August 1991, over 20,000 people migrated to Italy in this fashion. Italy intervened militarily, which was the port area under their control, and the city the center of the European Community "Operation Pelican", a food-aid program.
In 1997, Albania slid into anarchy after the collapse of a massive pyramid scheme which devastated the economy. An Italian-led peacekeeping force has been used controversially to Durrës and other Albanian cities to restore order, although widespread, that the proposals of the real purpose of "Operation Alba" was to prevent economic refugees to continue using Albania ports as a way to migrate to Italy. flee
During the Kosovo war in 1999 the city hosted some 110000 refugees fighting in Kosovo and became a base for his operations serve a large proportion of refugees reaction of aid agencies in Albania .
- economy
- holiday
The city beaches are also a popular destination for many foreign and domestic tourists who visit an estimated 600,000 tourists annually. Many Albanians from Tirana to spend their holidays in summer on the beaches of Durres.
Due to the recent construction of a modern highway linking Tirana and Durres is the only drive about 30 minutes. You can also travel by train, for the token fee of 50 LEKE (about U.S. $ 0.40). There are about ten trains per day from Tirana.
As in other parts of Albania, many concrete bunkers built under the old dictatorship are now in and around Durazzo. You can find every 100 to 150 meters along the city. They were built to the country from an alleged foreign attack from either the West or the Warsaw Pact, which never happened, Albania now has an estimated 700 000 bunkers.
The largest amphitheater in the Balkans is located in the city near the port.
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