TIRANA, April 16 – The former Royal Palace, a landmark building situated just outside Tirana built in the late 1930s under Albania’s Italian occupation, will reopen to the public as multifunctional centre of art and culture, the Culture Ministry has announced.
“The Palace will turn into a functional centre of art, culture, tourism, social and economic activity,” said Culture Minister Mirela Kumbaro, adding that an international competition will be launched to revitalize the building which now serves as a Presidential Palace and has seen no restoration intervention since the 1970s.
The Albanian-American Development Foundation is also assisting in the project targeting to turn the palace into a major tourist attraction.
“This first phase – titled Diagnostic Review of Infrastructure – provided important preliminary analytical data that gave an accurate assessment of the current structural situation of the Palace, and identified the exact needs for rehabilitation. The information gathered will be utilized as groundwork for project design, business plan, and actual physical renovations,” AADF said in a statement.
“The advanced technological equipment used for the first time in Albania on the occasion of this important scientific research about the physical status of the monument showed degraded parts of the building that have not withstood the years and the weather conditions,” said the Italian Institute of Culture.
The Palace of Brigades in Tirana reflects the contribution and skill of Italian architects who worked in Albania during the 1930s and 40s for its design and implementation. Experts say the impressive building, designed by Giulio Bertè for late Albanian King Ahmet Zogu in 1936 and currently known as “Palace of Brigades”, requires immediate re-evaluation and a revitalization of the great potential that offers after so many decades.
