Albania,
the Official Host Country of ITB Berlin 2025, has long been regarded as a gate
between the East and the West, with both cultures coexisting in perfect
harmony. In this blog, we want to take you through some of the most interesting
cultural sites in the country, which saw 36 per cent more visitors for the
period between January and August, compared to the previous year.
House
of Leaves
Located
in the centre of Tirana, the building known as The House of Leaves is a museum
of the Secret Surveillance of Albania. It offers insights to communist Albania,
considered one of the darkest periods in the country’s history. Visiting
tourists are left with so many questions, wondering how life for locals must
have been, under the strict and watchful eye of the infamous Sigurimi.
The
Gjirokastra Fortress
Perched
high on top of a hillside overlooking the town below on one side and a glorious
view of the mountains to the other, the Gjirokastra Fortress is the most
visited cultural site in 2024. Once home of Princess Argjiro, who according to
folkloric traditions, jumped off the castle with her child to avoid being
captured by the Ottomans, it inspired Albania’s prolific author Ismail Kadare
to dedicate a poem.
National
Iconographic Museum “Onufri”
The
premises of this museum belong to a cathedral built in 1797, erected over the
highest peak of the Berat castle. The iconostasis inside the cathedral/museum,
completed in 1807, is considered one of the finest achievements of Albanian
wood-work. The museum has a collection of two hundred objects, mainly
ecclesial, gathered primarily from the Berat region. They mainly consist of
icons and sets of old liturgical specimens.
National
Museum of Medieval Arts
This
museum is located in Korçë and exhibits more than 7,000 artworks and artistic
objects mainly in the form of icons, woodworks and engravings, stone and metal
works, crafts on textile, and so on. It is a depository of marvellous artworks
that miraculously survived the communist regime. The tour in the museum reaches
a culminating point in the Black Labyrinth Pavilion and the Red Room.
Marubi
National Museum of Photography
This
is Albania’s first photography-dedicated museum. Located in Shkodër, the museum
is integrated in the studio of Pjetër Marubi, an Italian exile who became
Albania’s first photographer. His son and grandsons continued the legacy,
turning the Marubi family into a dynasty of immense artistic values. Marubi’s
collection contains some 400,000 photographs, carefully preserved, showing
stills from the 1850s inward.
Centre
for Openness and Dialogue (COD)
It
offers a unique blend of three venues. A digital room that provides public
access to the digitalised archive of the Prime Minister’s office, an
internationally registered library that enables COD visitors to interact with
thousands of libraries worldwide specialised in politics, current affairs, art,
architecture and urban planning, and an exhibition hall.
Each
of these three areas operates under an integrated calendar, which features
thematic exhibitions of individual artists, increasingly recognised and based
on open proposals, with an emphasis on public interest.
Other
notable sites include: the Archaeological Museum of Apollonia, Archaeological
Museum of Butrint, Museum of Castle Rozafa, National Museum of Independence in
Vlorë, National Museum Gjergj Kastrioti in Krujë, Gjon Mili Photography Museum
in Korçë, Musine Kokalari Museum in Gjirokastër etc.
Keep
an eye out for Illyrian settlements as well, a highly important testament to
the extraordinary cultural heritage of Albanians, as one of the oldest
populations in the Balkans and Europe.
Make
sure to also visit Albania’s archaeological parks such as Amantia in Vlorë,
Antigonea in Gjirokastër, Apollonia in Fier, Lissus in Lezhë, Oricum in Vlorë,
as well as archaeological remnants scattered throughout the entire country.
Find
out more about the Official Host Country of ITB Berlin 2025 at https://albania.al.
Image Credit: © Ministry of Tourism and Environment of
Albania
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=671202cccee345318ff44449eb1c4ae5&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tourexpi.com%2Fen-intl%2Fnews%2Fhost-country-2025-tracing-albanias-rich-history-and-deep-cultural-transformation-202947.html&c=8864857713254831496&mkt=de-de
Author :
Publish date : 2024-10-17 23:11:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
