TIRANA, October 25 – Albania’s State Committee on Museums is waiting for the final design project on the reconstruction of the ethnographic pavilion at the National Museum History in Tirana.
Funded by the Spanish Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund, the project under the Culture and Heritage for Social and Economic Development (CHSED) Programme is being implemented jointly by UNESCO and UNDP, in close partnership with the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A significant component of the joint programme is the re-conceptualization of the National History Museum in Tirana as a modern cultural institution, setting new standards for museum development, management and experience in Albania. The governance and management structure of the Museum will be assessed in order to transform the museum into a modern structure increasing in this way the people’s access to culture heritage of the country. A series of operational action plans for meeting international standards of documentation, conservation, security, and presentation was prepared through the support of an international Advisory board consisting of prominent figures in the area of museum management.
The National History Museum
The National History Museum was established on 28 October 1981. Located on the Western part of Tirana’s main square, the museum building occupies a total area of 27,000m2. It constitutes the most important museum in Albania and hosts 4,750 different objects. The Museum is conceptualized in a chronological way displaying the following pavilions: the Antiquity Pavilion starting from the Paleolithic period to the late antiquity, the 4-th century A.D, exhibiting approximately 550 objects; the Middle Age Pavilion, including the era of national hero Skanderbeg, and containing more than 200 objects; the National Movement Pavilion that displays Albania of XIX century until the declaration of the country’s independence in 1912 with more than 200 objects; the Independence Pavilion; the Iconography Pavilion with a collection of 56 icons, and the Second World War Pavilion. The NHM hosts various other activities over the year, including cultural and historic events along with promotional events, workshops and fairs. There is gift shop located within the museum building occupying 100 m2, while it doesn’t host any restaurant or wardrobe.
