Forsaken Albania

By Artan Lame
Tirana: the summer of the Year 1938. The King puts on a reception at the Royal Palace. On the occasion of different festivities and ceremonies, the protocol included visits by top authorities of the country (civilian, military, religious, diplomatic), to the King at the Palace. Visits by different groups were conducted within fifteen minutes of one another, so each group had time to meet the King. This photo depicts the reception of the religious authorities. Like today, there were four religious leaders in those days too, representing the main religions. The Prime Minister is also present at the reception. The photo shows, from left to right: Prime Minister Ko诠Kotta, the Catholic Archbishop, King Zog, Bekteshi Leader Sali Njazi Dedei and the Orthodox Archbishop Kritofor Kissi.
PM Koco Kotta (1889-1948) wears an evening coat suit and tails in compliance with ceremonial protocol. You can also see the black and red ribbon of the Order of Skenderbeg. Decorations failed to save the Prime Minister from prison after 1945, where he also died from hunger in 1948. He had been elected Prime Minister of Albania twice, about five times Minister and for some time he was also Speaker of Parliament. According to our criteria, he fully deserved imprisonment.
Two years later, in the evening of 28 November 1940, the Bekteshi Leader, a patriot of the Old School, was assassinated, an act that was never explained.
King Zog wears the white summer military uniform and bears the ceremonial sword in its waist sheath.
Out of the men in this photograph only Kristifor Kissi manages to survive the turmoil of the War and remain in his post until 1949, when he was finally compelled to step down from the Chair of Archbishop and hand it over to Pais Pashko Vodica.
What strikes the eye is the luxurious furniture, the paintings on the walls, the engraved ceiling, the beautiful carpets on the floor, the wall dressings, the armchairs etc. In view of the fact that there was no other building, King Zog used the building that houses the Academy of Sciences today as the Royal Palace, which was privately owned and which he rented. Very little remains today of the grace and glory of the past of this edifice despite the extraordinary history it hosted.
Packets of cigarettes spread out over the marble surface of the table for the guests, according to Albanian customs. How times change!. Today the Stabilization-Association Agreement (SAA) prohibits smoking in public places which, at that time, would have compelled us to drop a well known Albanian custom. As if we preserved other customs and we regret saving this one! Or it’s not as if we implemented all the other rules and regulations of the SAA and public smoking is the only one left!!