The Royal Villa of Durrës which is known to the world as Zog's Villa of Durrës is located on a hill in the historical part of an Albanian port city. If you get an areal view over the villa, it will remind you of an eagle. Its windows offer a magnificent view of the city and the sea, as well as of another famous building which is the city lighthouse.

The villa was built in 1926 by a famous Albanian architect Kristo Sotiri who was a talented graduate of two Italian universities in Padua and Venice. He had a successful experience in designing palaces for royalty. Shortly before the construction of the royal villa in Durrës, he was engaged in projecting one of the summer palaces of the Romanian Queen Elizabeth of Wied. The construction of the Villa of Durrës lasted for more than 10 years and was completed in 1937, a few months before the royal wedding of the Albanian King Ahmet I Zogu and the Hungarian Countess Géraldine Apponyi de Nagy-Appony. So, this villa can be called a royal wedding gift. Even today newlyweds often visit this place for a successful marriage. In those years it served as the summer residence of the royal family and was a symbol of the monarchy for the inhabitants of Albania.

After World War II the villa housed the country's government. During the reign of Enver Halil Hoxha, the villa was a meeting place for many important people. Among them were some Communist leaders: from the head of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev to the Prince of the Kingdom of Cambodia, former President of the United States Jimmy Carter, and many other politicians. Unfortunately, the interior of the villa was seriously damaged by the 1997 Civil War, so it was closed to the public.

In 2007, the building was given back to the only son of King Ahmet I Zogu, Crown Prince Leka I of Albania. That was the time when the villa reconstruction works started. It was supposed to be a symbolic gift for the wedding day of the King's grandson, Prince Leka II and the Albanian actress Elia Zaharia.