Sister cities of Lushnjë

Lushnjë (Albanian pronunciation: [ˈluʃɲə]) or Lushnje is a city in Central-West Albania located at 40.95°N, 19.71°E. It is the center of the District of Lushnje in the County of Fier and has a population of about 54,813. The town was founded in late medieval times by a Turkish widow called Salushe. She built a rest stop on the road from Durrës to Berat, giving birth to the town. As of 2000, old men still called the town Salushe.

In January 1920, Lushnje was a provisional capital of Albania and the place of the Congress of Lushnje. Chieftains of Albania assembled in the town and declared Tirana first a provisional and then the definitive capital of Albania.

The Lushnje district is known as a main provider of agricultural products to the rest of the country. It is one of very few field districts of mountainous Albania.

During the Communist Regime the town had a number of factories: among them food processing and building materials, which were closed down for one reason or another in the aftermath of the fall of Communism.

3 km away from Lushnje is the Savra Field. This field is on the Lushnje-Fier road. Here the first battle between Principality of Zeta and Ottoman Empire occurred in 1385 (the Battle of Savra). In this battle Balsha II was killed. Along with Fier, Lushnje was the main district of the concentration camps during the Communist Regime; some of the camps included the villages of Savër, Gradishtë, Bedat, Gjazë, Rrapëz, Plug, etc.