Venetian Tower

The Venetian Tower, locally known as Kulla Veneciane, stands in the city of Durrës, in the county of Durrës in Albania.

Durrës is a 2500-year-old port city, known to the Romans as Dyrrachium and the Venetians as Durazzo. It was fortified in the 5th century with city walls, towers, and a citadel at its highest point. The town was attacked many times through its history by Romans, Ostrogoths, Bulgars, Byzantines, Normans, crusaders, Ottomans, and even by Italians at the start of WW II. It has also suffered from several devastating earthquakes, the last one occurring in 1926.

The Venetian Tower was built in the 15th century by the Venetian Republic, who then ruled over Durazzo. It was built to replace an earlier Byzantine tower at the southernmost corner of the city walls, close to the harbor. It functioned as an artillery tower to protect the port and town from the sea. The tower now stands alone, but originally was connected to the city walls.

Up until some years ago, the tower was used as a café with an open-air terrace on top. Nowadays, it houses a small heritage interpretation center, where you can learn about the town's history through a very nice VR and video presentation.

The Venetian Tower can be visited for a small fee. A charming little tower. North of it, a part of the Byzantine city wall, with several wall towers, is still standing and also worth a visit. I was not able to find any remains of the actual historical citadel.

Gallery

The tower

Remains of the city walls