Tirana Streets

Colourful buildings and Communist concrete

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The top of the Piramida, the former Enver Hoxa museum, with people standing on the top
A young man resting on top of the Piramida
The view of downtown Tirana's colourful apartment buildings
Left: colourful abandoned trains in the Tirana station, with matching buildings in the background, right: a window filled with old books
A man in a yellow shirt walking along corrugated metal buildings
A cyclist on the abandoned platform at Tirana station
Portrait of a heroin addict on Tirana station
Abandoned train cars on the overgrown platform in Tirana
A group of old men playing dominos on the streets
An old man loading groceries onto his bicycle
Left: doorway to a butcher shop with a colourful outer wall, right: doorway into a residence with couches piled onto the stairway
A man posing outside a matress store
An old man on the phone standing in front of election posters
A front yard with a truck tyre and couches
A man crossing a puddle in front of some couches
One of Tirana's many colourful apartment buildings
Disused tiled fountains in downtown Tirana.
An elderly couple trying to calm a crying child at a fun fair

albania

About Tirana Streets

Tirana is an interesting city, that feels like it has only recently opened its doors to foreign visitors. This is partly due to the isolationist policies by the ruling Communist party between the 2nd World War and the late 1980s, and the civil conflicts of Albanians in neighbouring Kosovo. The city is slowly recovering from both, and while the reminders are numerous in architecture and elsewhere, it is a sight to behold.

Where other cities have parks, Tirana has tiny concrete bunkers littering its cityscape.

About the streets project

Few things are more telling about communities than the streets they live on and around. The Streets project aims to document living conditions and the state of communities in places that are only known in the West by the news of their wars, poverty, and other hardships. This project is about showing the daily life that's not commonly featured.

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