Pyramid of Tirana

Coordinates: 41°19′24.28″N 19°49′16.49″E / 41.3234111°N 19.8212472°E / 41.3234111; 19.8212472

Pyramid of Tirana
Alternative names Enver Hoxha Museum
Pjeter Arbnori International Cultural Center
General information
Town or city Tirana
Country Albania
Opened 14 October 1988 (1988-10-14)
Design and construction
Architect Pirro Vaso, Klement Kolaneci, Pranvera Hoxha, and Vladimir Bregu

The Pyramid of Tirana (Albanian: Piramida) is a structure and former museum located in Tirana, Albania, Europe.

Background

On 14 October 1988, the structure opened as the Enver Hoxha Museum, originally serving as a museum about the legacy of Enver Hoxha, the long-time leader of Communist Albania, who had died three years earlier. The structure was co-designed by Hoxha's daughter Pranvera Hoxha, an architect, and her husband Klement Kolaneci, along with Pirro Vaso and Vladimir Bregu.[1]

When built, the Pyramid was said to be the most expensive individual structure ever constructed in Albania.[2][3]

The Pyramid has sometimes been sardonically called the "Enver Hoxha Mausoleum", although this was never its intended use or official appellation.[4]

Post-Communism

After 1991, following the collapse of Communism, the Pyramid ceased its function as a museum and for several years was repurposed as a conference center and exhibition venue, as well as being rebranded with its current name. During the 1999 Kosovo War, the former museum was used as a base by NATO and humanitarian organizations.[5]

Since 2001, part of the Pyramid has been used as broadcasting center by Albanian media outlets Top Channel and Top Albania Radio, while the rest of the structure and the paved surrounding area (currently being used as a parking lot and bus station for minivans to Elbasan) have experienced dilapidation and vandalism.[6]

Part of Armando Lulaj's film It Wears as it Grows (2011) was shot inside the Pyramid.

Possible demolition

Numerous proposals to demolish the Pyramid and to redevelop the land of the 17,000-square-metre (1.7 ha) complex for alternative uses have been made, with the most prominent proposal being the potential construction of a new Albanian parliament building on the site.[7][8][9]

A previous proposal for the site to become a new opera theater was approved but cancelled shortly after construction work began. The exterior marble tiles covering the structure were removed to a depot outside of Tirana.[10] The proposed demolition of the Pyramid has itself become a point of controversy among some leading foreign architects, who have both supported and opposed it. Historian Ardian Klosi initiated a petition against the demolition of the structure, gathering around 6000 signatures.[11] A study published in 2015 but undertaken in 2013 suggests that the majority of citizens of Tirana were against the demolition.[12]

It was announced in 2017 that the Pyramid will not be demolished, but refurbished.

Youth Technology Center

In 2018, a new project was unveiled that would turn the Pyramid into a technology centre for youth focused on computer programming, robotics, and start ups.[13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Kolaneci: Forma e Piramidës, në harmoni me malin e Dajtit" [Kolaneci: Form of the Pyramid, in harmony with the mountain of Dajtit] (in Albanian). 3 December 2009. Archived from the original on 24 February 2014.
  2. ↑ Janine Schueller (2014-11-23). "The Pyramid | Sights | Tirana". Inyourpocket.com. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  3. ↑ "Pyramid in Tirana, Albania". Lonely Planet. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  4. ↑ "Раздел "Вопросы, ответы, комментарии" сайта "Энвер Ходжа. Его жизнь и работа". Страница 2". Enverhoxha.ru. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  5. ↑ Mary-Jo DelVecchio Good (2008). Postcolonial disorders:Volume 8 of Ethnographic Studies in Subjectivity. University of California Press. p. 169. ISBN 0-520-25224-1.
  6. ↑ Morton, Ella (2014-01-28). "The fight to preserve Albania's ugly Pyramid of Tirana". Slate.com. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  7. ↑ "Cultural and Sports: should Pyramid be torn down?". Southeast European Times. Retrieved 2010-11-07.
  8. ↑ "Mblidhet komisioni shteteror për ndërtimin e parlamentit te ri". Shtypi i Dites (in Albanian). Retrieved 2010-11-06.
  9. ↑ "Parlamenti i ri i Shqipërisë, 17 mijë metra katrorë - Shqipëri - Lajme - Koha Net". Retrieved 2010-11-06.
  10. ↑ "Piramida që ha paratë e shqiptarëve". YouTube. 2009-09-26. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  11. ↑ "Civil Movement hands petition against Pyramid demolition". Top Channel. Retrieved 2018-01-03.
  12. ↑ Iacono, F.; Këlliçi K.L. (2015). "Of Pyramids and Dictators: Memory, Work and the Significance of Communist Heritage in Post-Socialist Albania". Arqueologia Publica. 5: 97–122.
  13. ↑ https://www.mvrdv.nl/en/projects/tirana-pyramid
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