This ancient monument is found right at the center of the town of Durres. It is one of the biggest in the Balkans and up to now the only in Albania. The capacity of this amphitheatre was 15-20.000 spectators, the entrance of which was made easier by a number of circle symmetric corridors, assisted by stairs towards different floors. The biggest axis is 136m, the preserved height up to 20 m. It is dug nearly half of it, so no one knows where the big northern gallery was leading to. The arena is separated by the place where the public stood, by a high protecting basis. The construction should have been done during the reign of Traian (98-117 our era). The town had a very rich library and other buildings in accordance with the cultural profile of the town and other buildings for the entertainment of the inhabitants. It is learned from a script (CIL III, I, 606) that for the inauguration of the library a game with 12 pairs of gladiators was held. The excavation, guided by V.Toçi in 1966 re-brought in light the arena and a part of the stairs and the gallery. More discoveries of the parts of the amphitheater were made during the expeditions organized by University of Parma, Italy
In addition to the direct values of the Amphitheatre as a special monument of culture and as the witness of the rich inheritance of Durresi, it has also study values for its history and the events once held there. These facts make this place favorable to the tourists coming from different continents, to the researchers, archeologists and others. Some projects are organized recently to turn it into a center of performance displays. The first tries seem to be successful.