Wikipedia:WikiProject Tirana/Introduction

WikiProject Tirana is a WikiProject dedicated to creating, improving, and expanding articles related to the city of Tirana. If you feel that you want to participate in the wikiproject, feel free to add your name to the list of participants. The parents of this WikiProject are WikiProject Cities and WikiProject Albania.

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Tirana (/tɪˈrɑːnə/ tih-RAH-nə, Albanian pronunciation: [tiˈɾana]; Gheg Albanian: Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea in the distance. It is among the wettest and sunniest cities in Europe, with 2,544 hours of sun per year.

The site of present-day Tirana has been continuously inhabited since the Iron Age and was likely the core of the Illyrian Kingdom of the Taulantii, which in Classical Antiquity was centred in the hinterland of Epidamnus. Following the Illyrian Wars, it was annexed by Rome and became an integral part of the Roman Empire; the heritage of that period is reflected by the Mosaics of Tirana. With the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fourth century, most of Albania came under the control of the eastern Byzantine Empire, as evident by the Petrelë Castle built during the reign of Justinian I. Tirana was founded in 1614 by Ottoman Albanian general Sylejman Pasha Bargjini, centered on the Old Mosque and türbe. The city was fairly unimportant until the 20th century, when the Congress of Lushnjë proclaimed it as Albania's capital after the Albanian Declaration of Independence in 1912. (Full article...)