TIRANA, Jan. 15 – A former warehouse of the Kinostudio film production during the country’s communist regime has become the new residence of the Ministry of Culture.
The Ministry which had been housed in the League of Writers premises for the past seven years, has moved into a restored neo-classical building designed by Russian architects in the late 1940s.
“The Ministry of Culture will not only be a desk serving the public and the cultural community, but also a cultural centre bringing it closer to art lovers,” said Culture Minister Mirela Kumbaro at the inauguration ceremony in early January.
Architect Artan Shkreli says the building’s reconstruction involved the façade and the lighting while the indoor area has preserved its authenticity and physiognomy. He says he has preserved an architecture line between the classical and the modern also using antiques saved from the former Kinostudio.
The Culture Ministry says the building’s outside premises will also serve as art spaces for contemporary artists.
The Kinostudio Shqipëria e Re, in Tirana, Albania, was founded in 1952 by the dictator Enver Hoxha with the initial support of the Soviet Union. This building once housed Albania’s national film studios and their national film archives. Today, it is home to the Albanian National Center of Cinematography, the Marubi Academy of Film and Multimedia and several Albanian TV studios.
