Four early 20th century flags under restoration

TIRANA, Oct. 31 – Four special Albanian national flags dating back to the early 20th century are being restored to be displayed as part of events commemorating Albania’s centenary of independence. Restorers are working on the flag independence leader Ismail Qemali was buried in 1919, a 1914 flag belonging to Price Wied’s family, the flag used in the Vlora war in 1920 and another flag believed to date back to 1913. Restorer Frederik Stamati says the flags are undergoing preliminary restoration, mainly fixing torn parts and missing parts of double-headed eagle. The exhibition scheduled to open in the next few days will also feature flags from the collection of the Centre for Albanology Studies and at the National Museum of History in Tirana.
“One of the flags we are restoring appears in one of pictures taken by general Thomson in the flag building in Vlora. There are some elements proving this but it could happen that it is 1912 flag but not the one Ismail Qemali hoisted,” says Stamati.
Albania’s national flag is a red flag, with a silhouetted black double-headed eagle in the centre, that represents the sovereign state of Albania located in the Balkans. The double-headed eagle is the national symbol of the Albanians and was used for heraldic purposes during the Middle Ages by a number of Albanian noble families, including the Kastrioti, whose most famous member was George Kastriot Skanderbeg. The Kastrioti’s coat of arms, depicting a double-headed eagle on a red field, became famous when he led a revolt against the Ottoman Empire that resulted in brief independence for some regions of Albania from 1443 to 1478.
The Albanian flag has gone through a number of changes over the years as different regimes have modified it. During the reign of King Zog (r. 1928-1939), a crown was added to the flag and was replaced by two axes during the Italian occupation of Albania. After World War II, the communist regime added a five-pointed golden star, which was removed on 7 April 1992 after the communist government in Albania collapsed.