“Eternal Butrint” published in Albanian

TIRANA, June 15 – Eternal Butrint a book by British archaeologist Richard Hodges, which traces the development and change of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, has also been published in Albanian. The book, published by the Albanian Heritage Foundation and Toena Publishing House, was promoted this week in Tirana in a ceremony where the author was also present.
“The title Eternal Butrint is inspired by the timeless quality of the city that, despite over 2,000 years of human development, retains the beauty and tranquility which first enticed settlers to live there. As Albania continues on its journey to full European integration, with all the strains and pressures that entails, I share the confidence of our Albanian colleagues that Butrint will remain an unspoiled treasure for the enjoyment of many future generations,” says Lord Rothschild, the chairman of the Butrint Foundation.
Professor Richard Hodges OBE, a former director of the British School at Rome, director of the Institute of World Archaeology at the University of East Anglia and Scientific director of the Butrint Foundation has made a long and important contribution in Albania. His projects in Butrint have included extensive programs of excavation and site management. Today Richard Hodges is the director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Located at a crossroads of the Mediterranean, the site of Butrint is a microcosm of changes in the region over the last 3,000 years. Few UNESCO World Heritage Sites command such scientific interest – and few are more richly documented. Set in a marshy landscape between an inland lagoon and the busy straits separating Corfu and Albania, Butrint boasts well-preserved, photogenic remains from most periods. The site has been occupied since at least the 8th century BC, and Virgil recounts how the Trojan exile, Aeneas, landed there before he founded Rome. Subsequent travelers have all recognized an elegiac beauty in the site. This book charts the development and change of Butrint, using the archaeological remains and environment to paint a grand, complex picture worthy of its millennia of history. It is illustrated with exceptional paintings by Edward Lear, the magnificent photographs of Luigi Ugolini, the recently discovered archives of the Communist period, and the Butrint Foundation’s rich documentation. The book concludes by analyzing how tourists are bringing economic hope to Albania as they discover the myth of Aeneas in its unspoiled landscape.