In a meeting with Albanian President Bujar Nishani, the UNESCO director general highlighted the need for the promotion and preservation of Albania’s rich cultural heritage and the important role that Albania could play at a regional level.
TIRANA, April 2 – In her first official visit to Albania, Irina Bokova, the director general of UNESCO, has expressed her commitment to further strengthen engagement of the organization towards the achievement of common objectives in the field of education, culture, science and freedom of expression.
In a meeting with Albanian President Bujar Nishani, the UNESCO director general highlighted the need for the promotion and preservation of Albania’s rich cultural heritage and the important role that Albania could play at a regional level.
On Saturday 29 March 2014, Bokova visited the World Heritage site of Berat and attended the third edition of the sub-regional event of the ‘Balkan Bridges Speak’ project organized within the framework of UNESCO’s global initiative “Culture: A Bridge to Development.”
In a meeting with the Minister of Culture Mirela Kumbaro, the Director-General discussed possible areas to enhance collaboration in the near future, by using culture as a tool for sustainable development, strengthening national capacities to safeguard and manage the rich cultural heritage of the country and to develop the vivid creativity of its artists.
Speaking at the event, she reiterated the crucial role played by bridges in linking people, establishing dialogue towards reconciliation, and connecting the future and the past, so as to make the most of our diversity as a force for creativity, for mutual understanding and enrichment.
The Director-General was especially pleased and moved at receiving from the Mayor of Berat, Mr Fadil Nasufi, the distinction of honorary citizen of Berat, underlining that this is creating an additional commitment for her to promote inter-religious harmony of this World Heritage city, UNESCO reported.
The Gorica bridge, an 18th century seven-arched stone bridge in the UNESCO World Heritage site of Berat was the third stop of the Balkan Bridges Speak project hosted by across South East Europe highlighting bridges as powerful symbols of unity and mutual understanding.
Organized by the UNESCO office in Venice, Balkan Bridges Speak” the project featured round tables on some of the organization’s priority areas of work in the field of culture, artistic performances, public readings, and provides an opportunity for artists, national and local authorities, experts, private partners and universities of the sub-region to share experiences.
The Gorica Bridge, which connects two parts of Berat was originally built from wood in 1780, but was later rebuilt with stone in the 1920s. The 7-arch bridge is 129 metres long and 5.3 metres wide and stands about 10 metres above the average water level. According to local legend, the original wooden bridge contained a dungeon in which a girl would be incarcerated and starved to appease the spirits responsible for the safety of the bridge.
Since 2008, Berat has been inscribed as a rare example of an architectural character typical of the Ottoman period. Located in south central Albania, Berat bears witness to the coexistence of various religious and cultural communities down the centuries. It features a castle, locally known as the Kala, most of which was built in the 13th century, although its origins date back to the 4th century BC. The citadel area numbers many Byzantine churches, mainly from the 13th century, as well as several mosques built under the Ottoman era which began in 1417.
Berat bears witness to a town which was fortified but open, and was over a long period inhabited by craftsmen and merchants. Its urban centre reflects a vernacular housing tradition of the Balkans, examples of which date mainly from the late 18th and the 19th centuries. This tradition has been adapted to suit the town’s life styles, with tiered houses on the slopes, which are predominantly horizontal in layout, and make abundant use of the entering daylight.
Berat is one of Albania’s three UENSCO world heritage site along with Butrint archeological and the southern town of Gjirokastra.
