“I am sure that an exhibition like this is going to help even more the recognition of our culture. We are a part of a Balkan culture mosaic, and this exhibition is an event going beyond our borders,” says Albanian Culture Minister Visar Zhiti
TIRANA, July 24 – Archaeological artifacts dating back from pre-history to modern times are showcasing the road of the Albanian nation through centuries in an exhibition in neighboring Kosovo. Held under the “One Nation, One Culture” slogan, the exhibition at the Kosovo Museum in Prishtina will remain open to the public for three months until the end of next October. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony last weekend, Kosovo’s Culture Minister Memli Krasniqi said the exhibition constitutes an important step towards the enrichment of the cultural life, national relations and above all the preservation and presentation of the culture and cultural heritage.
“I think that this exhibition is an extraordinary opportunity for all citizens, and even more for the younger generations to see our culture and cultural heritage. It is one of the most authentic documents for the way how our ancestors lived,” Krasniqi said, appealing for increased cooperation between Kosovo and Albanian cultural heritage institutions.
Albania’s Culture Minister Visar Zhiti described the exhibition as a step forward to the spiritual unification of the Albanian nation and the increase of authentic cultural initiatives.
“I am sure that an exhibition like this is going to help even more the recognition of our culture. We are a part of a Balkan culture mosaic, and this exhibition is an event going beyond our borders. This event also indicates an excellent cooperation between our countries,” Zhiti said.
Apollon Bace, the director of the Institute of Monuments of Albania and the curator of this exhibition, said the archeological collection on display is unique and contains archaeological findings from Kosovo and Albania, bringing a unique confession.
The exhibition moved to Kosovo after attracting a record 97,000 visitors in Italy’s Rome and Turin where it was displayed for four months, under the title” Treasures of Albanian Cultural Heritage” featuring Albania’s archeological heritage from prehistory to the 17th century. On display are the 4th century BC head of Apollo, as well as finds from the Hellenic and Roman periods, icons painted by Onufri, and the Epitaph of Gllavenica with the Deposition of Christ embroidered in silk, silver and copper.
For the first time in Italy, an exhibition of 150 archeological items on loan from Albanian museums were displayed in Rome’s Complesso del Vittoriano museum and Turin’s Palazzo Madama on Albania’s centenary of independence in late 2012 and early 2013. The exhibit included earthenware, furnishings, objects for daily use, helms and shields, coins, devotional statues and icons, dating from prehistory through the 17th century. In terracotta and ceramic, bronze, copper and iron, marble and wood, the objects documented not only the daily customs of a people but also its cultural and esthetic values, its traditions and its spiritual life. Statues, portraits, coins, gold jewelry, shields, bronze figures of deities, pendants belt, wine jugs, Greek fibulae, spearheads, tombstones, urns that reveal the full Greek-Hellenic influences and Roman are also displayed.
The exhibit is divided into three sections. ”The prehistoric age, from the Neolithic to the Archaic age; Antiquity, which goes from the fifth century to the high Middle Ages, and the Byzantine era,” according to curator Apollon Bace. Ancient times covering the fifth century BC until the High Middle Ages constitute a historical moment in which the geographical proximity between Italy and Illyria has played a key role in the development of intense commercial and cultural relations between the two shores of the Adriatic.
