New projects to preserve Gjirokastra’s heritage
Tirana Times
TIRANA, March 1 – European Values in Heritage is the newest project of the Gjirokastra Conservation and Development Organization (GCDO), an NGO whose mission is to conserve, revitalize and promote the historic southern Albanian city of Gjirokastra, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2005. Funded by the European Commission, this is an 18-month regional project lead by the GCDO and implemented in cooperation with the Academy for Training and Technical Assistance (ATTA) in Prizren (Kosova), the Macedonian Artisan Trade Association (MATA) in Skopje/Ohrid (Macedonia) and the Egnatia Epirus Foundation in Metsovo (Greece). The objectives of this project are to raise awareness and build capacities among decision-makers and the general public about the cultural and economic values of historic cities and handcraft as a common European heritage and to develop synergies among NGOs working for the preservation of historic cities, based on shared European values and standards. Four international workshops will be held on each of the historic cities; a manual for policy guidelines will be published as a result of the workshops. The launch event will be organized by the GCDO in Gjirokastra, at the end of March 2011 with high-level participants from various European countries.
GCDO with co-funding from the UN Joint Programme “Culture and Heritage for Social and Economic Development” organized a four-day training for artisan product development in Gjirokastra in mid – November 2010. Eight artisans were trained to use their traditional skills in a creative and innovative way: 23 new products were produced most of which were sold during end-of-year festivities. With the help of new products, artisans are confident of increasing sales from buyers during the 2011 tourism season. The development of handcrafts continues to be GCDO’s ongoing goal since it increases income and employment especially among women and young people in Gjirokastra. For this reason, the NGO has started a four month training program for wood and stone carving. The trainees are youngsters from Gjirokastra and selected through an open competition. The project is funded by Swiss Cooperation Albania.
Every effort to save and revitalize Gjirokastra that is not genuinely supported by the town’s community is destined to fail. GCDO shares this belief with many other organizations that have decided to make heritage a way for their communities to live better. In November, an independent specialist on heritage and community development conducted a survey with Gjirokastra citizens to understand better what they think of heritage, UNESCO, tourism and other related issues. 89 % of them believe that the community has benefited economically, culturally and socially from Gjirokastra being listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Town. 58 % of the respondents expressed their belief that GCDO encourages them to visit sites in Gjirokastra while 66 % of the respondents said their favorite site is the Castle which they visit two or three times a year.
The historic town of Gjirokastra, in the Drinos river valley in southern Albania, is a rare example of a well-preserved Ottoman town, built by farmers of large estate. The 13th-century citadel provides the focal point of the town with its typical tower houses (Turkish kulle). Characteristic of the Balkan region, Gjirokastra contains a series of outstanding examples of kulle, a type of building which crystallized in the 17th century. But Gjirokastra also features some more elaborate examples from the early 19th century. The kulle has a tall basement, a first floor for use in the cold season, and a second floor for the warm season. Interiors feature rich decorative details and painted floral patterns, particularly in the zones reserved for the reception of visitors. The town also retains a bazaar, an 18th-century mosque and two churches of the same period.
Both Gjirokastra and the other southern town of Berat are inscribed as UNSECO World Heritage sites as rare examples of an architectural character typical of the Ottoman period.
