Colourful steps
Up the sides.
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A pyramid-shaped building of concrete and glass in central Tirana, opened in 1988 as a museum to the legacy of the communist leader Enver Hoxha, and turned into a conference centre after the fall of communism in 1991. It went through many phases and years of neglect, until locals and visitors took to climbing its steep, stepless sides, making it one of the city's odder landmarks. In 2018 a project was announced to turn it into a youth centre for creative technology, programming and robotics; the Dutch firm MVRDV redesigned it with colourful stairs climbing its sides, and it reopened to the public in 2023. Today you can climb the steps on its sides for free to reach the top and look out over the city centre, with cafés and green space around it. It is a short walk from Skanderbeg Square.
Up the sides.
Over the city.
Now reinvented.
Martyrs of the Nation Boulevard, central Tirana
Great Mosque of Tirana (Namazgah Mosque)Tirana's great mosque, known as the Namazgah Mosque after the old prayer ground 5 minutes walk4.9
Et'hem Bey MosqueA small historic mosque on Skanderbeg Square, begun by Molla Bey around 1791 and7 minutes walk4.5
Skanderbeg SquareThe main square at the heart of Tirana, named after the Albanian national hero S8 minutes walk4.4Yes. Colourful steps were added to its sides in the redesign, and anyone can climb them to the top for free.