TIRANA, June 17 – A Euro 600,000 government-funded project will make possible some emergency interventions in the Migjeni theatre in the northern city of Shkodra after local artists warned earlier this year the theatre, which is one of the country’s eldest performing arts institutions, risked closing down because of degrading technical conditions.
“In a few months we have prepared a restoration project worth 86 million lek (Euro 600,000) to handle the project’s initial stage. I express the government’s readiness to restore the theatre not only as an object of culture but also as a monument of artists,” said Culture Minister Mirela Kumbaro at the presentation of the project.
The project’s initial stage expected to be concluded by the end of the year involves interventions in the electrical system, stage mechanism and airing system.
In a letter to the Shkodra municipality and the Culture Ministry last February, theatre officials called for immediate intervention to the theatre’s dilapidated electrical system and the reconstruction of its hall and the heating system.
“The emergency situation cannot even handle another single performance, there is need for immediate intervention because the consequences could be irreparable and harmful,” said theatre director Edmond Angoni.
Officials are worried the theatre’s dilapidated electrical system installed since 1958 is a permanent threat to fire and could endanger local staff and spectators.
Built in 1958, the Migjeni theater named after a famous local poet, is home to several renowned actors and the most important performing arts institution in northern Albania.
The building was reconstructed in 2000 under an Italian government funded project.
