Vlore

Vlorë is a coastal city and municipality in southern Albania. It is the second largest port city of Albania, after Durrës. It is where the Albanian Declaration of Independence was proclaimed on November 28, 1912. Vlorë was briefly the capital of Albania.

Founded as an ancient Greek colony in the 6th century BC by the name of Aulon and continuously inhabited for about 26 centuries, Vlorë is home to the Port of Vlorë and University of Vlorë as the most important economical and cultural city of southwestern Albania.

Etymology

The modern name for the city is the Albanian form Vlorë or Vlora, both pronounced [ˈvlɔɾə], while in the Gheg dialect it is known as Vlonë, Vlona. Vlorë was created in antiquity as a Greek colony in the territory of Illyria. Its first name was Aulón (Greek: Αυλών, also the name in modern Katharevousa), meaning "channel" or "glen" and possibly a translation of another indigenous name. In Latin the name is known as Aulona, a Latinization of the Ancient Greek name. The medieval and modern Greek name is Αυλώνας /av'lonas/, accusative Αυλώνα /av'lona/, and is the source of the Italian name Valona (also used in other languages) and of the obsolete English Avlona. During the Ottoman era, the Turkish Avlonya was also used.

History

Antiquity

Vlorë is one of the oldest cities of Albania. It was founded by Ancient Greeks in the 6th century BC and named Aulōn, one of several colonies on the Illyrian coast, mentioned for the first time by Ptolemy (Geographia, III, xii, 2). Other geographical documents, such as Peutinger's "Tabula" and the "Synecdemus" of Hierocles, also mention it. The city was an important port of the Roman Empire, when it was part of Epirus Nova.

Middle Ages

It became an episcopal see in the 5th century. Among the known bishops are Nazarius, in 458, and Soter, in 553 (Daniele Farlati, Illyricum sacrum, VII, 397–401). The diocese at that time belonged to the Patriarchate of Rome. In 733 it was annexed, with all eastern Illyricum, to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, and yet it is not mentioned in any Notitiae episcopatuum of that Church. The bishopric had probably been suppressed, for, though the Bulgarians had been in possession of this country for some time, Avlona is not mentioned in the "Notitiae episcopatuum" of the Patriarchate of Achrida. During the Latin domination, a Latin see was established, and Eubel (Hierarchia catholica medii aevi, I, 124) mentions several of its bishops. Several of the Latin bishops mentioned by Le Quien (Oriens christianus, III, 855-8), and whom Eubel (I, 541) mentions under the See of Valanea in Syria, belong either to Aulon in Greece (now Salona) or to this Aulon in Albania (Vlorë), which, no longer being a residential bishopric, is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see, a suffragan of Durrës, being distinguished from another titular see called Aulon by the use for it of the adjective Aulonitanus, while the adjective regarding the Aulon in Euboea is Aulonensis.

Vlorë played a central role in the conflicts between the Norman Kingdom of Sicily and the Byzantine Empire during the 11th and 12th centuries.

After it was captured by the Ottoman Empire in 1417, it became a sanjak centre in Rumeli Eyaleti as "Avlonya"; and after coming under Venetian possession in 1690, the city was restored to the Turks in 1691, becoming a kaza of the sanjak of Berat in the vilayet (province) of Janina. The city had about 10,000 inhabitants; there was a Catholic parish, which belonged to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Durrës. In the 16th century, it was an important center for Sephardic Jewish refugees from Spain and Portugal.

In 1851 it suffered severely from an earthquake.

Modern

Ismail Qemali declared Albania's independence in Vlorë on November 28, 1912, during the First Balkan War. The city became Albania's first capital following its independence, but was invaded by Italy in 1914, during World War I. The city remained occupied by Italian forces until 1920, in which an Albanian rebellion forced the Italians out of Albania. Italy again invaded Vlorë in 1939. The city was under Italian occupation until Italy surrendered to the allies in 1943, following which Nazi Germany occupied the city until 1944. The city was liberated in 1944 by communist forces under Enver Hoxha. During World War II, the island of Sazan in Bay of Vlorë became the site of a German and Italian submarine base and naval installations; these were heavily bombed by the Allies.

After WWII, under communist regime, the port was leased to the Soviet Union as a submarine base, and played an important part in the conflict between Enver Hoxha and Nikita Khrushchev in 1960–1961, as the Soviet Union had made considerable investments in the naval facilities at nearby Pasha Liman and objected strongly to the loss of them as a consequence of Albania denouncing the USSR as 'revisionist' and taking the Chinese side in the split in the world communist movement. The Soviet Union threatened to occupy Vlora with Soviet troops in April 1961, and cut off all Soviet economic, military and technical aid to Albania. The threat was not carried out, as a result of the simultaneous development of the Cuban missiles crisis, but Hoxha realized how vulnerable Albania was, and, after the USSR invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968, he built the hundreds of thousands of concrete bunkers that still litter the entire Albanian landscape. Under Hoxha, Vlorë was an important recruiting centre for the Sigurimi, the secret police.

In 1997, Vlorë was the center of popular riots after the collapse of several fraudulent investment schemes that led to the downfall of the Sali Berisha administration, and almost turned into a civil war.

Geography

Topography

The city is located in Southern Albania and is the municipal seat of Vlorë County.

Vlorë is situated on the Bay of Vlorë, an inlet on the Adriatic Sea, almost surrounded by mountains. The port of Vlorë is closer in proximity than any other to the port of Bari, Italy, and is just 70 nautical miles (130 km) from Salento's coasts. The island of Sazan is nearby, strategically located at the entrance to the Bay of Vlorë. The town is surrounded by gardens and olive groves. Valonia, the mass name for acorn cups obtained in the neighboring oak forests and (because of its chemical derivatives) used by tanners, derives its name from Valona, the ancient name of Vlorë.

A new motorway is being constructed linking the city with Fier and Albania as a whole. One of the most panoramic routes of the Albanian Riviera starts to the south of town stretching up to Sarande in extreme southern Albania.

Transport

The A2 motorway is a four-lane motorway stretching between Fier and Vlorë along the Adriatic sea coast of Albania. On 3 February 2015, the Albanian Government received the full amount of the funding for the Vlore Bypass 29 km long linking A2 with coastal SH8 along the Albanian Riviera. It is expected to start around mid/late 2015 and be completed in 2016 or early 2017.

The Vlora bypass consists of a 29 km long route composed of a new single carriageway highway, numerous new bridges and 8 at grade junctions. The project starts from the Roundabout at the end of the Double Carriageway Levan Vlora.

The Port of Vlora is the second largest in the country. Vlore comprises a dry cargo port, the Vlore 1 petroleum port and a fishing harbour. The Port is conceived as part of the Lungomare Project, stretching from the harbour to the Forest of Sodë. Part of this project is the construction of a yacht port, while the new Trans - Balkan road, which has been completed, will be added a second segment that starts from the existing road to the port.

The rehabilitation of the port, expected to end by the end of 2016, includes the construction of a main area for freight, and a modern passenger terminal. Vlora will have for the first time a modern port for both freight and passengers, to become a catalyst of the economic and tourist development of the whole region.

Culture

In the city there are located three functioning museums the Independence Museum, the Historic Museum and the Ethnographic Museum of Vlorë. Each museum discovers different characteristics of the Vloran history. Vlora host also the Shevqet Musaraj Libery. Vlorë is home to different architectural styles that represent influential periods in its history. The architecture is influenced by Illyrian, Greek, Roman, Italian and Communist architecture. In the 21th century, Vlorë has turned into a modern city, with modern new buildings and many green spaces. The Lungomare Vlora Waterfront Project is currently under construction.

Sights

• Karaburun Peninsula is located in the Southern of Albania where the Adriatic Sea meets the Ionian Sea.
• Flag's Square is the main plaza in Vlorë, dedicated to the Albanian Declaration of Independence.
• Independence Monument is found in the Flag's Square
• Kaninë Castle was built on the site of an ancient settlement, one of the oldest in the Vlora region.
• Marmiroi Church is mentioned in historical records for the first time in 1307. It is thought to have been built in the 12th or 13th century.
• Muradie Mosque was built in 1537 by the famous Ottoman Turkish architect Mimar Sinan during the rulership of Suleiman the Magnificent.
• Oricum was an ancient city at the south end of the Bay of Vlorë. The city is an Archaeological Park of Albania.
• Sazan Island it is strategically located between the Strait of Otranto and the entrance to the Bay of Vlorë. More than half of the island's surrounding marine area forms part of the Karaburun-Sazan National Marine Park.
• Zvërnec Island is nearly all covered with tall pine trees and is just east of a much smaller island. It contains the well preserved 13th-14th century Byzantine Zvërnec Monastery.
• Narta Lagoon is the second largest lagoon in Albania.

Popular culture

Vlorë appears in the video game Tom Clancy's EndWar as a possible battlefield. In the game, a major oil refinery is located there, which receives oil from the Black Sea.