Archaeological Museum of Durrës
Seafront museum of ancient Dyrrachium, with Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine finds from the city.
The Archaeological Museum of Durrës opened in March 1951 on the seafront promenade, a few metres from the sixth-century Byzantine wall and close to the Roman amphitheatre. Durrës is the ancient Epidamnos, refounded as Dyrrachium, and for centuries the Adriatic landfall of the Via Egnatia, so the ground beneath the modern city is unusually rich. The museum gathers more than three thousand objects excavated in and around the city, arranged chronologically through the halls from early antiquity to the medieval period.
The holdings cover Greek, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine material: funerary stelae and stone sarcophagi, portrait heads and sculpture, a well-known series of busts and figures of Venus, terracotta, pottery, glass, coins and household objects. The building was closed in 2022 for repairs after the 2019 earthquake, and was reconstructed with support from the EU4Culture programme before reopening in 2026 with redesigned displays. The fourth-century BC pebble mosaic known as the Beauty of Durrës has been brought back to the city and is due to be shown at the museum entrance.
Highlights
- Founded in 1951 beside the Byzantine wall on the seafront
- More than 3,000 finds from ancient Epidamnos and Dyrrachium
- Large group of Roman busts and figures of Venus
- Redisplayed in 2026 after EU-backed reconstruction
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