Top to bottom, left to right: Centre of Fier, Gold Market Shopping centre,Archaeological Museum of Apolonia, Shën Gjergj Cathedral and Mosque of Fier, University of Fier, Apartment buildings in Fier, Fountain in Fier
The word "Fier" is claimed to derive from the Albanian wordfier, which is claimed to mean "fern". Naming locations after the local flora is a common phenomenon amongst theMyzeqar Albanians.[7] Another alternative hypothesis proposes a derivation from the Italian wordfiera, translated astrade fair.[8]
The history of Fier is bound up with that of the oil, gas and bitumen deposits nearby. The presence of asphalt and burning escapes of natural gas in the vicinity was recorded as early as the 1st century AD.Dioscorides, inMateria Medica, describes lumps of bitumen in the adjacent river Seman, and the concentrated pitch on the banks of theVjosë riverStrabo, writing in about AD 17 states:
On the territory of the people of Apolonia in Illyria there is what is called a nymphaeum. It is a rock which emits fire. Below it are springs flowing with hot water and asphalt... the asphalt is dug out of a neighbouring hill: the parts excavated are replaced by fresh earth, which in time is converted to asphalt.
In the 14th and 15th centuries the location was used by theVenetian traders as a marketplace to purchase agricultural products from theMyzeqe lowlands.[8]
The settlement took city status in 1864 when Kahreman Pasha Vrioni, the local governor, asked from someFrench architects to project a future city as an artisan and trade centre.[8] During the 1864–1865 period a market for 122 merchants was built along theGjanica river.[8] The first inhabitants of the city were the servants of Kahreman PashaVrioni and members ofAromanian families that had lived in the area since the early 19th century.[8]
Six kilometres away from Fier is situatedApollonia,[9] one of the two most important ancient Greek colonial settlements in present-day Albania. It was founded in ~600 BC on a hill near the sea, and near what was then the course of Vjosë river by Ancient Greek settlers fromCorfu andCorinth. At the time before the changes in land formation and theAdriatic coastline caused by an earthquake in the 3rd century AD, the harbour af Apollonia could accommodate as many as 100 ships. The site was on the territory of Illyrian tribe of theTaulantii. The colony was said to have been namedGylaceia after itsCorinthian founder,Gylax, and later changed its name to that of city of the God Apollo. According to archaeological investigations for 100 years Greek and Illyrian have lived in separate communities.
River Gjanica and Square of Victory
The economic prosperity of Apolonia grew on the basis of trade in slaves, and the local rich pastoral agricultural. In the middle of the 5th century BC, a workshop for minting coins was set up here. Through trade and commercial transactions these coins spread throughout Illyria and beyond its boundaries. In the years 214 BC onwards, the city was involved in the war between the IllyrianTaulantii andCassander, the king ofMacedonia, and in 229 BC came under Roman control. In 168 BC, its loyalty to Rome was rewarded. For 200 years, it was of central importance in the Roman effort to colonize the east and may have been an original terminus of theEgnatian Way. It was a vital stronghold for Caesar in the civil war betweenPompey andJulius Caesar. In 45 and 44 BC,Octavian, later to become the Emperor Augustus, studied for 6 months in Apollonia, which had established a high reputation as a center of Greek learning, especiallythe art of rhetoric. It was noted byCicero, in the Philippics, as 'magna urbs et gravis' a great and important city.
Under the Empire, Apollonia remained a prosperous centre, but began to decline as the Vjosë silted up and the coastline changed after the earthquake.
Since the fall of communism construction has been taking place. In particular, an Orthodox church was reconstructed in 1999 that allows people to practice their religion.[10]
Fier is an important industrial city and is built by the Gjanica tributary of theSeman River, and is surrounded by marshland. With nearbyPatos town, it is the centre of the oil, bitumen and chemical industries in Albania. Fier additionally has been the home of power-generation in Albania with the construction of theFier Power Plant during the communist era. Although it was decommissioned in 2007, a joint Greek-Albanian venture was announced in 2023 to revitalize these thermal plants to diversify Albania’s electrical industry.[16]
Fier is a convenient place to stay to visit the major Classical sites at nearbyByllis and Apollonia. Main roads from the central square lead south to Vlora (35 km or 22 mi) and east to the oil and industrial town of Patos (8 km or 5.0 mi).Also, 19 km (12 mi) to the west of the city centre, one will find the picturesque Seman Beach.
Fier is also known for its olive trees production (Kalinjioti cultivar) which contributes to the olive oil sector of Albania. Together withVlora,Berat andElbasan they provide almost 90% of olive oil production.[17]
The city also plays an important economic role in the development of the county since it produces many goods such as sugar, bread and animal products.[18]
The creation of theTrans Adriatic Pipeline raises the economy of Fier andAlbania highly. The pipe line will be crossing Fier and a Pumping Station will be built in Fier. This shows an open road to investment and employment of the city and country. The Pipe line has started since 2015 and is expected to be completed in 2020. This will SupplyAlbania Natural Gas.[19]
There are Urban Buses available throughout the city. There are also buses at the bus terminal in Fier that can take you throughout places inAlbania andBalkan region. Fier is served byFier railway station. There used to be trains during thecommunism era and till this day there has been no movement of the trains. The SH4 is a state road that takes you fromDurrës to Fier. The SH8 is also a state road that will take you from Fier toVlorë. There is a project for the Fier and Vlorë highway.
Fier is theseventh most populous city andsixth most populous municipality in Albania. As of the 2023 census, the municipal unit of Fier has a population of 52,926 of whom 25,935 were men and 26,991 women.[1] The municipality of Fier, including its adjacent administrative units, had a total population of 101,963 in 2011.[a][21] Fier, as other cities of southern Albania, has a religious mixed population, consisting ofMuslims and Orthodox Christians. Data shows that in 1918, afterAlbanian independence from theOttoman Empire, Fier and its surrounding countryside on the Myzeqe Plain formed a majority Orthodox Christian enclave, in whichMuslims constituted roughly 35% of the total population.[22]
^Wilkes, J. J. The Illyrians, 1992,ISBN0-631-19807-5, Page 96,"... whose land is the city Epidamnus. A river flows by the city, by name the Palamnus. Then from Epidamnus to Apollonia, a Ilirian (Albanian) city, the journey on foot takes two days. Apollonia lies fifty stades from the sea and the river ..."
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