The “Beauty of Durrës” mosaic has returned to the city’s Archaeological Museum as part of a restoration that reshaped both the building and the presentation of its collections, according to an account published by the United Nations in Albania.
Severely damaged by the 2019 earthquake, the museum was restored, structurally strengthened and equipped with modern visitor facilities through EU4Culture. The European Union funded the programme, which UNOPS implemented in partnership with Albania’s Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports.
The transformation extended to the galleries. Speaking at the completion ceremony, Culture Minister Blendi Gonxhja described redesigned pavilions containing more than 3,200 artefacts. He identified the return of the “Beauty of Durrës” as a particular highlight of the renewed exhibition.
According to the minister, the curatorial approach brings the museum’s principal historical periods and themes into focus while allowing the exhibition to incorporate future discoveries. That provision makes the collection’s presentation capable of developing as archaeological knowledge grows.
The UN account describes the project as a rehabilitation of a damaged cultural landmark and a renewal of the way Albania’s archaeological heritage is presented. The work combined repairs to the institution with changes to its visitor facilities and museum narrative.
For Durrës, the mosaic’s return gives that wider project a tangible centrepiece. It places a named work back within the city’s archaeological collection, alongside thousands of objects assembled to tell its past.