Forsaken Albania

By Artan Lame
Petrela, 1942. Petrela is a village full of the ancient history of this country, and it has managed to preserve some of this history at least in their memories. Legend has it that the rampants, rising above the village, belong to a castle that was recognised s the Seat of Mamica, the sister of Skenderbeg. Ballaban Pascha Badera was from the same village and was one of Kastriot’s strong opponents. He was killed in 1466 and buried in his village of birth.
In 1935, the decision was adopted to bury General Gilardi in the village of Petrela. The General was killed in combat trying to put down the Fieri Uprisings. King Zog gave him a magnificent funeral.
Following the invasion of Albania by Italy, the village became a tourist attraction adn the Italians invested heavily here. After the War, the glory of the village began to wane somewhat only to be revived in the early 90-ties.
The first photo, taken from the castle, shows the square in the centreof the village (1) constructed by the Italians, the construction of a small hotel (2), the construction of several surrounding public buuildings (3,4), and a large sports field (5), below the main square. You can see two large tents erected in the lower field, used when school children visited on excursions from Tirana, organized by the schools of the capital and financed by the Italians. Top right there is a straight road (6), which winds uphill towards a smaller clearing on the hilltop, where the monumental grave to General Gilardi stood (7). You can see several willow trees behind the inn (8), amongst which nestled the place of prayer of Ballaban Pascha. A beautiful drinking fountain was erected and engraved into the wall of the village square(9). In this foto the drinking fountain is under construction. A fountain was also built in amongst the olive trees(10) and a more secluded garden.
For the curious who would like to know what happened in later years, I could say that the first to be destroyed was the grave of the General, stone by stone, during the fifties’. Later on in 1967, the place of prayer of Ballaban Pascha was next to go, It was obliterated mercilessly despite the 500 years it carried. Today there is not a trace of its existence. The fountain was abandoned years ago and you can only see traces of it beneath the bushes.The owner of the building that can be seen in the lower part of the other photograph, came forward and claimed his ownership rights, so the history of the village is no longer learnt there, but the underwear of the courageous wife of the also courageous property owner, wave in the breeze.
Yes, they obliterated the memories this village haboured, but still that does not impede us from remaining a people with ancient history and a rich culture!!!!