Tirana was founded in 1614 by the Ottomans, centered on the Old Mosque. The site has been inhabited since the Iron Age and was likely the core of the Illyrian Kingdom of the Taulantii. Following the Illyrian Wars, it was annexed by Rome. With the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, most of Albania came under the control of the eastern Byzantine Empire. Tirana remained small and insignificant for a long time until it was designated the capital of Albania at the Congress of Lushnja in 1920. A place with just a few thousand inhabitants became the largest and most important city in the country. King Zogu had a palace built here and, with Italian help, ministries and a boulevard were constructed.

At the beginning of WWII Albania was occupied by the Italian fascists. In 1941 the Communist Party of Albania was established and under Enver Hoxha it became the center of the Albanian communists. The city was liberated in November 1944, after a heavy battle lasting several days between the partisans and the Wehrmacht, in which numerous historical buildings were destroyed. A few days later Hoxha proclaimed Albania's independence in Tirana.
During the communist rule the city was redesigned, with a number of buildings demolished. Tirana's former Old Bazaar and the Orthodox Cathedral were razed to the ground in order to build the Soviet-styled Palace of Culture. Because private car ownership was banned, mass transportation consisted mainly of bicycles, trucks and buses.

After democratization, Tirana slipped into a period of anarchy as necessary laws just did not exist at that time. Illegal buildings were built everywhere. From 1999 onwards, the illegal buildings in the city centre were demolished and the green spaces restored.

In the 21st century, Tirana experienced an economic boom. Numerous modern high-rise buildings were built.

The historic main cathedral of the Orthodox Church of Albania was demolished in the late 1950s. The new Albanian Orthodox Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ was opened in 2012. It is considered one of the largest Eastern Orthodox churches in the Balkans.

The construction of the main building is modelled on the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. A mosaic stretches over 586 m² in the dome and depicts Christ Pantocrator in a blue sky with golden rays and circles.