By Nora Kushti
One day, I found an unusual email in my inbox. Sent from a man named Mark in the United States, the message read:“Can you please help me find pictures of my great-grandfather who used to live in Shkoder until the beginning of the twentieth century?”
Surprised, I wondered how I would possibly find those pictures; but his message made it clear. Mark’s grandfather used to be photographed by the Marubi photo studio in Shkodër, and he had discovered that UNDP was helping digitize its archives.
Perhaps, we could help.
I immediately contacted our UNDP project office in Shkodër providing them with the approximate time when the photo was taken. A few days later, I received it: A photo of Mark’s great-grandfather, there among the half a million photos extant in the Marubi archive.
Very few people back then were aware that this event would mark the beginning of a new epoch in documentation for Albania and the Balkans.
Pietro Marubbi, an Italian photographer escaping the conflicts surrounding Italy at the time, brought with him perhaps the first photographic machine in Albania.
This is now one of the many invaluable objects now preserved in the archive.
Besides Pietro Marubbi’s originals, this institution also preserves negatives and photos of some of Albania’s most famous photographers. With almost half a million photographic plates and film negatives collected over 157 years, Marubi National Photo-Archive is today one of the most important national heritage institutions in the country.
In 2013, UNDP in Albania joined the multi-dimensional efforts undertaken by the archive and the Albanian government to promote the immeasurable value that this cultural and historical heritage carries.
The project is carried out in partnership with the Autonomous Region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia in Italy, through technical assistance provided by its Regional Centre for Cataloguing and Restoration of Cultural Heritage.
Dubbed the “Marubi Virtual Museum”, the project provides support to the cataloguing and digitalizing efforts being undertaken.
The current assistance also includes the development of a comprehensive web interface, targeting visitors seeking to discover Albania’s cultural and historic identity through an immersive photographic tour.
Half of the oldest and most endangered bulk of around 100,000 photographic plates and negatives have now been digitalized, catalogued, and archived.
The remainder will be accomplished by the end of this year.
According to the archive’s Director, Luçjan Bedeni “this initiative is one of the most important interventions that the “National Photo-Archive Marubi” has ever seen. The digitalization is crucial for the preservation, quality conservation, and promotion of this national heritage both within the country and internationally.”
I can’t express just how happy Mark was when he found the picture of his great grandfather.
Other people – some from neighbouring Italy and Montenegro – have caught wind of it, and can’t wait to see the virtual museum.
Soon no one will need to turn to UNDP for help.
Marubi Virtual Museum will be online to tell the story of Albania and the Balkans through images on its own.
