L'amphitheatre de Durres

I visited this tWHS twice in spring 2022, just upon arrival and just before departure at Tirana International Airport which is about 30-45 minutes away by car. The amphitheatre is literally in the middle of Durres' urban sprawl, Albania's second most populated seaside city, so I don't think it has much chance of ever getting inscribed. That said, it is the largest amphitheatre in the Balkan Peninsula and has a capacity for 20,000 people.

Durres was founded by Ancient Greek colonists from Corinth and Corcyra under the name of Epidamnos around the 7th century BC in cooperation with the local Illyrian Taulantii. Also known as Dyrrachium, Durres essentially developed as it became an integral part of the Roman Empire and its successor the Byzantine Empire. The Via Egnatia, the continuation of the Via Appia which will soon be up for inscription as a WHS, started in the city and led across the interior of the Balkan Peninsula to Constantinople in the east.

Practically only around half has been excavated and a lot of archaeological work has been conducted in close cooperation with Italian institutes and universities. The only reason to enter the site proper is to be able to walk inside the excavated part and see a pretty small mosaic behind a metal gate and if you pay enough attention also a number of ancient graffiti and items inside the walls such as a shell. Most of the artefacts found in the Durres amphitheatre can be seen at …

In preparation of my ‘Balkan Tour 2015’ I had looked into Albania’s TWHS for ones that would be interesting enough to add to my itinerary. The country currently has a T List of 4, but none of these sites look very promising except the easy extension of the Ohrid WHS into the Albanian side of the lake. The Ancienty City of Apollonia is the most recent addition to the T List, but it is yet another Greek-Roman site. So I had decided to skip them all. But unexpectedly I had half a day to spare on my last day in Albania, due to a late departure of my bus from Tirana to Struga in Macedonia. I used it to get to Durrës and visit the T listed Amphitheatre there.

Durrës is a port and Albania’s second city, only a 40 minute bus ride away from Tirana. Its amphitheatre lies in the city center, but isn’t as easy to find as many others of its kind. There are one or two signs, but mostly you’re up to yourself discovering the fairly sizeable structure between the houses. Coming from the bus station, there’s a flight of stairs that looks brand new which will take you to a view point above the amphitheatre. From there you can walk around it and get to the entrance. The site is fenced off nowadays, and there’s a small entrance fee of 300 Lek (2 EUR).

In Roman times this city was called Dyrrachium. It was an …