Shkodra marks three-day Carnival

TIRANA, Feb. 12 – Shkodra marked its annual Carnival festival with three days of celebrations even this year with thousands of citizens joining events in the biggest northern city. Staged from February 9 to 12 in the city’s main boulevard and pedestrian area, the carnival turned into a parade of masks criticizing politics and common phenomena in the Albanian society. Speaking to reporters, Shkodra Mayor Lorenc Luka hailed the traditional celebrations in the northern town.
“Shkodra is also lucky to have the only Venetian mask manufacturing plant in Albania which has considerably improved the decoration of the city during this event,” said Luka. A trade fair and an exhibition featuring the 100th anniversary of the first pictures of the Shkodra carnival taken by the renowned Marubi photographers opened at the municipality. Last year, Shkoldra celebrated its Carnival festival under the motto “100 years of independence, 100 hours of Carnival.” The Carnival celebrations in the country’s biggest northern city brought mask and costume parades, singing and dancing perfor-mances to be concluded with a gala night in the local Migjeni theatre.The event was supported by Shkodra municipality and the local mask manufacturer which provided parade artists with miscellaneous masks ranging from Venetian ones to children’s favourite heroes.
Initially celebrated in 1860, the Carnival festival in Shkodra was banned for 45-year period during the country’s communist regime to resume only after the early 90s when democracy was restored.
Shkodra holds several successful annual festivals that have brought in tourists and visitors from across Albania, including the Carnival Festival, the Artisans Fair, Flower Day, and the City Music Festival.