Old Doors Trail

The seaside city of Durrës, Albania, abounds with old-world charms. While the majority of visitors focus on its more ancient sites, many overlook quirky attractions hiding in plain sight. Locals are particularly proud of the city’s historic doors, about 150 of which have been documented by local museologist Dorina Xheraj-Subashi.

The Old Doors Trail of the City of Durrës, as the project is called, is a fun way to explore the obscure details of the city. These doors are full of character, something to preserve for the future.

Arguably the most notable specimen of the Old Doors of Durrës is Porta e Dëshirave, or the Door of Wishes, an iron arch serving as the entrance to a house built by Ibrahim Subashi in 1928. It was designed to be anti-seismic, as the city was just recovering from the devastating 1926 earthquake, and adorned in the popular style of the time, with little spears and hooks forming a geometric web.

Confiscated from the family of its owners during the communist era, the Subashi residence has retained much of its original architecture, with the door intact. The first of the Old Doors Trail project, which now counts twelve, the Door of Wishes (as named by Xheraj) has been decorated with ribbons, flowers and all the little trinkets, a tribute to locals’ wishes.