The newly restored monument has been furnished as a hostel with semipublic spaces to be rented for cultural activities.
TIRANA, April 10 – A late 19th century house in the southern town of Gjirokastra, a UNESCO World Heritage, has been restored thanks to funding by the Swedish government.
The Babameto 1st category monument was inaugurated on April 6 in a joint project by Sweden’s Cultural Heritage without Borders (CHwB) and its partners in Albania, the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sport, the Regional Directorate of National Culture Gjirokastra, the Office for Administration and Coordination of the Historic Core of Gjirokastra and the Gjirokastra Conservation and Development Organization (GCDO).
Charg顤Ձffaires of the Embassy of Sweden in Tirana Patrik Svensson, Culture and Tourism Minister Visar Zhiti, and Christine von Arbin, CHwB chairwoman took part in the inauguration ceremony.
Restorer Lejla Hadzic says CHwB will continue supporting cultural heritage projects in Albania with the restoration of Hamams, traditional Turkish bathhouse, both in Gjirokastra and Kruja.
Culture Minister Visar Zhiti said Albania was giving Sweden as the Nobel prize awarding country, “the Nobel of Gjirokastra people’s hearts.”
“First contact with the monument was both a breathtaking and devastating experience for our organization. The monumental residential building from the end of the 19th century was in total disrepair, but its potential was inviting and encouraging,” donors said.
Restoration works on the building started in 2012. The process of surveying, documenting and developing the future restoration project took place from 2009-2011 and was implemented as a training process for several young Albanian conservation architects. The total investment made was Euro 160.000, the majority of which came from Sweden, with a smaller contribution from the Packard Humanities Institute through GCDO. A further Euro 12.000 was secured through Sweden to furnish the newly restored monument as a hostel with semipublic spaces to be rented for cultural activities.
Back in time, the Babameto 1st category monument was built by a father for his two sons, where each would have a three-floor wing, facing out on a courtyard with wells. Quite typical for the year of its construction (1885/1887) and the regional characteristics, the walls of the ground floor and first floor were built of stone, while the second floor was made of a lighter wooden construction.
The Babameto 1st category monument in Gjirokastra was constructed over a bazaar dwelling. Its ground floor walls are probably from the mid-18th century, a time of renewal following one of the bazaar’s devastating fires. Born from the ashes, this new higher building accommodated merchants throughout almost 100 years of its existence. Several years ago, this same house was again destroyed, and its future was uncertain
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.
