Vaulted passages
Under the seats.
Agonsta24 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Fluisa Ismailati — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Fluisa Ismailati — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Attila Terbócs — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Igor Trklja — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Enrique Íñiguez Rodríguez (Qoan) — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fluisa Ismailati — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Sindela rapi — CC0
A Roman amphitheatre in the heart of Durrës, begun under the emperor Trajan in the second century AD, the largest Roman amphitheatre ever built in the Balkan peninsula, once seating some twenty thousand people. Earthquakes wrecked it twice, in the sixth and tenth centuries, and houses covered it for centuries until it was rediscovered in late 1966; part of it still lies beneath the surrounding homes, a scene that spans the ages. You can walk its vaulted passages and tunnels under the seating, and inside is a small early Christian chapel with the remains of rare wall mosaics. It is on Albania's tentative list of World Heritage Sites. Tickets are about 300 lek, per visitor guides, and half an hour to an hour is enough. It pairs easily with the Venetian Tower, the archaeological museum and the seafront on one walk.
Under the seats.
With mosaics.
A rare sight.
Centre of old Durrës
In late 1966, after centuries under houses; part of it still lies beneath the surrounding homes.