GIZ finances lighting of Gjirokastra’s museum area

TIRANA, Jan. 17 – The German government, through its German International Cooperation (GIZ), is financing the lighting of the museum area of the southern Albanian town of Gjirokastra, a UNESCO World Heritage site 2005, with Euro 150,000, local media report. Currently, the lighting system in Gjirokastra’s most visited neighbourhood is outdated and does not comply with UNESCO standards.
Inscribed on UNESCO as a rare example of an architectural character typical of the Ottoman period, Gjirokastra, in the Drinos river valley in southern Albania, features a series of outstanding two-story houses which were developed in the 17th century. The town also retains a bazaar, an 18th-century mosque and two churches of the same period. The 13th-century citadel provides the focal point of the town with its typical tower houses.
The historic town of Gjirokastra is a rare example of a well-preserved Ottoman town, built by farmers of large estates. The architecture is characterized by the construction of a type of tower house (Turkish ‘kule’), of which Gjirokastra represents a series of outstanding examples, according to UNESCO.
The history, culture and traditions of Gjirokastra and its Drino valley are featured in the newest museum that has opened at the southern Albanian town which has been under UNESCO protection since 2005. Situated in the indoor premises of the local Argjiro fortress, the museum documents Gjirokastra’s 2000-year-old history, bringing evidence of the life of its inhabitants, its most prominent figures and archeological remains discovered in the Drino Valley, especially in the Hadrianapoilis Park.
Cerciz Topulli, Musine Kokalari, Ismail Kadare are some of the local heroes displayed in the museum stands. A special corner has also been dedicated to late Stalinist dictator Enver Hoxha, who ruled the country for 40 years, from 1945 to 1985. Some of the dictator’s photos featuring him visiting his hometown of Gjirokastra and some of his political writings are displayed in a special stand for those who look back nostalgically to the communist regime.
The museum will be the third in Gjirokastra after the arms museum in the local fortress and the ethnographic museum located in the house of late dictator Enver Hoxha.