Blloku · Blloku
Blloku: from forbidden quarter to the city’s living room, the back story
The back story
About Blloku: from forbidden quarter to the city’s living room, the back story
Blloku, “the Block”, was the closed residential quarter of Albania’s communist leadership until 1991. Today it is a small, walkable grid of streets packed with cafés, restaurants, boutiques and bars, and the place where Tirana goes out. Here is how it changed, and how to enjoy it.
The leaders’ compound
After the Second World War, the factories in this south-western corner of central Tirana were cleared to make way for an enclosed, guarded complex of villas and apartments for members of the Politburo and their families. Ordinary Albanians were not allowed in, and the area was left unmarked on most maps. Enver Hoxha lived here, in the modernist villa on Rruga Ismail Qemali, from where he ruled the country until his death in 1985.
Opening up
When communism fell in 1991, the barriers came down and Albanians walked in to see how their leaders had lived. The quarter changed quickly: villas became bars and restaurants, gardens became terraces, and new apartment blocks filled the gaps. Wikipedia’s description of it as “the playground of the young Albanian elite” is not far off.
On most maps of communist Tirana, Blloku was simply left blank.
The Postbllok memorial, at the corner of the main boulevard, now marks one of the old checkpoints, with a bunker, a piece of the Berlin Wall and concrete posts from the Spaç labour camp.
Blloku today
By day the streets around Rruga Pjetër Bogdani and Rruga Ismail Qemali are full of people over long coffees and business lunches; by night the same streets fill with diners and drinkers until late. It is small enough to cross on foot in ten minutes, and the Pyramid, the Lana and the Grand Park are all close.
Our advice: come twice, once in the morning for coffee and once at night, start at Postbllok, look at Hoxha’s villa from the street, and end with a drink at Radio Bar.
Why it's on our list
- Closed until 1991
- Hoxha’s former villa
- Cafés by day, bars by night
Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Blloku: from forbidden quarter to the city’s living room, the back story before you go.