The project consists in the digitalization, cataloging, enhancement of Marubi Archives as well as the creation of a Virtual Museum promoting and presenting the Marubi photo archives to visitors interested in Albania’s identity and cultural heritage
TIRANA, Jan. 27 – Some 1,000 pictures from the Marubi 19th and 20th century collection are being digitized under a United Nations funded project aimed at establishing a virtual museum of Albania’s golden age of photography.
Visiting the Marubi studio in Shkodra, northern Albania, Prime Minister Edi Rama, described current the storage conditions of the Marubi photo collection as criminal.
“This treasure of our nation can no longer remain in this cell as a political prisoner who should die, with no light, food, air and communication with the public. This is criminal,” said Rama, promising to turn Marubi into a reference point for Albanian culture.
“This must be transformed into a reference point for the whole Albania and for everybody who visits it and wants to know what Albania is,” said Rama.
The Marubi collection of more than 100,000 negatives hosts pictures by Pietro Marubit, Kel Marubi, Geg롍arubi, Mati Kodheli Marubi, Kel Kodheli Marubi, Kol Idromeno, Shan Pici, Ded롊akova, Pjet철Raboshta, Angjelin N쯳hati.
The virtual museum project is being implemented under a joint project by the UNDP Art Gold 2 Albania programme, the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia and the National Fototeka Marubi. The project consists in the digitalization, cataloging, enhancement of Marubi Archives as well as the creation of a Virtual Museum promoting and presenting the Marubi photo archives to visitors interested in Albania’s identity and cultural heritage, as well as indicating tourist itineraries based on Marubi images.
At present the project has set the necessary equipment needed for the aforementioned activities which will be soon followed by training of the staff.
The Marubi archives are considered as one of the largest photo libraries in the Balkans, with a collection of more than 100,000 photographic negatives dating back to 1858.
The European Parliament in Brussels became the first host of an exhibition featuring the golden age of Albanian photography from the rich 19th and 20th century of the Marubi collection.
Reflecting our traditions, reflecting ourselves” which displayed in Brussels for three days from January 20 to 22 is an itinerant exhibition organized within the EU-funded project “Marubi: a cooperative model for the promotion of tourism between Shkodra and Ulcinj” in the framework of the IPA Cross-Border Programme Albania-Montenegro 2007-2013.
The travelling exhibition is aimed at promoting the Marubi patrimony and the historical, social and cultural values of Albania and Montenegro. The exhibition will tour different countries such as Italy, Hungary, Serbia, France, Poland and Turkey.
Albanian photography started with Pietro Marubi, an Italian emigrant fleeing political repression from his country. He opened Albania’s first photography studio in 1858. Three generations of Marubis will follow in his footsteps. For about a century, the Marubi family have amassed more than 120,000 negatives. The selection of pictures reveals the political, social, cultural and religious diversity of the country.
From the fall of the Ottoman Empire to the establishment of Enver Hoxha’s communist regime in 1946, in the wake of the Second World War, photography flourished in Albania. “Albania possesses a photographic legacy which, though unique among the Balkans, has gone unnoticed both inside and outside its border”.
