The largest archaeological museum in Albania is located on the Adriatic coast in the city of Durrës. Its building is literally surrounded by historical monuments. There you can see the Byzantine castle of the 5th century fortified by walls from the times of the Ottoman Empire, the Roman amphitheater of the 1-2nd centuries as well as a villa that served as the summer residence of the first King of Albania, Ahmet Zogu. The purpose of creating an archaeological museum in Durrës, like all other museums in the world, was to preserve and disseminate knowledge about the life and culture of the indigenous people and the well-preserved buildings of these places. Each time, valuable finds made during the excavations contributed to this.

The museum was built in 1951. Since then its extensive collections have been replenished with rare exhibits. Basically, the permanent exhibition which has more than 3,200 exhibits contains artifacts from three historical periods: Greek Antiquity, the Hellenistic period, and the Ancient Rome period. There is also a small collection from the Middle Ages. Roman tombstone steles and huge stone sarcophagi are of particular interest there. A separate room is dedicated to the busts of Venus. They indicate that the city of Durrës was once the center of religious rites and worship of the Roman goddess of beauty, love, and prosperity. In total, there are about 20,000 exhibits found in the ancient city of Durrës and its surroundings.

The museum has been displaying new items dedicated to the rich history and culture of this city for half a century, up to the year of 1997 when the Albanian Civil War started. This was a time of uprisings and civil unrest which led to the looting and destruction of many religious and historical monuments and buildings. The same thing happened with the main archaeological museum of the country.

Its reconstruction began only after more than 10 years thanks to the support of the Institute of Archaeology and the Academy of Sciences. After five years of extensive renovation, the museum building was inaugurated in 2015 with the participation of Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama.