Antiquity
Albania’s heritage is rich and diverse from Paleolithic and Mesolithic traces to Neolithic dwellings and burial sites such as a farming settlement preserved beneath Lake Ohrid that was recently carbon dated as being 8,000 years old[1]. There are larger remains from the antiquity of the Illyrian tribes and the first Illyrian state of King Syrra in the 5th century BC. Aristotle (384-322 BC) mentioned that Epidamnus (Durres) was run by a magistrate, while tradesmen and craftsmen were excluded from political power, and individual trading with the local Illyrians was forbidden. Illyrian traditions and pagan cult rituals related to the Moon, Sun, Snakes, Fairies, Vidas- God of livestock, Iris- Goddess of Agriculture, Tana- Goddess of Birth, Tades- God of Light, Meduar- God of War, Shurdhi- God of Thunder, and others for which later sanctuaries were built and Priests would preach the morals and politics of the state and society of the time[2]. The diversity of Albania’s heritage includes cultural exchanges with the Greeks, Romans, Byzantine, Venetian, and Ottoman Empires, and many others.
Byzantine and Ottoman
Throughout history, numerous foreign occupiers seized control of Albanian territory, including Byzantine, Bulgarian, Serbian, Angevin, Venetian, Sicilian and more. In many cases the new rulers weakened or destroyed the previous rulers’ cultural influences. Christianity remained the main religion during this period, and foreign commerce led to prosperity and the development of arts and education, while various foreign languages were used in literature, administration and religion. Out of these periods of foreign rule grew a western style feudalism that led to a sort of state union amongst Albanian clans working together against the imminent Ottoman advancement.
Very briefly, after a period of Albanian unity and resistance from Ottoman invasions in the 14th-15th century, the next centuries marked a period of Islamification in Albania. The Empire was more concerned about taxes being paid and less about cultural assimilation. Compared to western nations of the time, the Ottoman Empire took a more tolerant approach to diversity and differences. This allowed Albanians and others to preserve their language and much of their traditions and culture, although non-Muslims did not always receive the same political rights or career opportunities as Muslims, leading much of Albania to convert to Islam. This period saw the construction of today’s UNESCO recognized heritage sites of Gjirokastra and Berat and other important religious and military structures.
Independence
After centuries under the Ottoman administration, the modern Albanian state began its rise to independence through the Albanian National Renaissance movement emphasizing the importance of Albanian language and history. These early efforts of Albanian nationalism emerged in the 1820s-40s in part by Albanians publishing from abroad and emphasizing an Albanian consciousness with a European culture and identity. This evolved into revolts and political movements and would become a key factor in the declaration of independence from the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of the first Albanian government in 1912[3]. The early government did not have a Culture Ministry but education was given a priority for the following years until the first Minister of Education and Culture was named in 1953.
Monarchy
During World Wars and occupations, the country had unstable governance yet most, including King Zog’s government, tried to modernize the society and emancipate women. The first National Library opened in 1922 and King Zog’s government destroyed several mosques to open the way for infrastructure developments. By 1932, Miss Tirana and Miss Albania competitions and the first artisan exhibition took place, and a new law in 1937 made it a punishable offence for women to conceal their faces.
Communism
In 1941, the Communist Party of Albania was established, renamed in 1948 as the Labour Party, and it formed the government of the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania which led the country from 1945 until 1992. During this time, the socialist realism dominated, promoting working women and men. Building of the new country began with cultural monuments to the war heroes, the establishment of the first Albanian Art School in 1946, National Arts Gallery in 1954, National Opera and Ballet in 1953, University of Tirana in 1957, and so on.
A proclamation of national atheism in 1967 outlawed and destroyed religious objects, especially those that were part of the public domain. “Albanianism” was the new religion. Until 1968, Albania was in line with Russian arts and culture visual representations until it left the Warsaw pact, and was aligned mainly with China in promoting the “New Men and Women” including examples of Chinese pioneers, proud villagers and intellectuals as testimony of their alliance.
The film industry, as well as monuments to remember war heroes, flourished. Artistic freedom, however, was kept within the confines of what was deemed acceptable by the party, often with guidance from its leader Enver Hoxha. Works could be rejected and destroyed, and artists punished by imprisonment, forced labour or worse.
From 1971-1976, the Labour Party conducted their 5th five-year plan and documents from the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Council of Ministers contained wording like “reduced creative authorship of writers and artists” and “reduced schedules and creative permissions for writers and artists”.
A series of monumental sculptures were installed in the city in the 1970s representing wars and heroes. The female representation was of a strong woman celebrating socialism, the party, the revolution, planting trees, strongly reflecting the party’s ideals.
The 11th Festival of Songs in 1972 featured modern elements that were not accepted by the political leader, and in 1973 at the Assembly of the Labour Party, Hoxha stated that the country should deepen the ideological war against foreign influences and the liberal attitude towards them, leading to clashes, and a new shift in censorship from the Party’s Committee, the Ministry of Education and Culture, and the League of Artists and Writers. Any form of artistic freedom at this point disappeared and unaccepted works were considered “bourgeois-revisionary”. A series of purges punished many artists and organizers of the 11th Festival of Songs that were deemed too western or decadent, or those who did not keep in line with current standards. A 1974 speech from Enver Hoxha entitled “Writers and Artists are Aids of the Party for the Communist Education of our Men and Women” included the line “They [artists and writers] should struggle to always play the role of auxiliary of the party in moulding the new man”.
Law Nr. 5506, date 28.12.1976 / Constitution of the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania, Article 35 “the state protects people’s cultural heritage and develops the national social culture…the state supports development of socialist realism art that represents socialism and communism ideals and national and folk elements”; and Article 37 “The state does not recognize any religions and it supports and develops the atheist propaganda to ground the people in the understanding of scientific material.”
Deteriorating relations with China by 1978 had led Albania to effectively cut all ties abroad leaving society with little to no foreign influence and a cultural policy of “Albanian Values” was in full effect with a focus on folk culture. The new constitution of 1978 classified duties to society as of greater importance than freedom of speech. Hoxha proclaimed “literature and arts should be increasingly more militant, pure and clear, free from any alien, liberal and conservative influence, so that they will worthily respond to the revolutionary reality of our times, as well as to the spiritual requirements of our people”. The strategy was to have art that was clear, and that could communicate without vulgarities, and encouraged the emergence of heroes from a struggle, who everyone could emulate. This was and had long been used to create a shared experience for all Albanians, an Albanian mindset free of influences from abroad.
The rise for Democracy
After Hoxha’s death, the new leader Ramiz Alia in 1989 acknowledged that changes were necessary for the economic system, and this was followed by student protests in the coming months. On June 13, 1990, the fall of the Berlin Wall and poor economic conditions led to more civil unrest. Individuals, groups and families began storming foreign embassies, beginning a massive series of emigration to European countries and other parts of the world. At the same time, Western culture became widely accessible without any government restrictions and artists were finally free to express themselves in many forms and expressions that had not allowed for about 45 years.
The first democratic elections were held in March, 1991, and the collapse of communist ideology was replaced by the market economy and consumption. Even though the new Constitution was not approved until 1998, changes were made to invalidate the previous one from 1976, which had banned religions in the country, allowing groups to revive or introduce new religious institutions. Symbols from the previous communist period, like the star on the national flag and in the mosaic at the National History Museum, were removed. Men were also now free to have long hairstyles, people listened to European and American music, and rock, disco, and every style were closely reproduced based mainly on international films shown on TV stations. Young people embraced jeans, t-shirts of rock, metal and other bands, while politicians wore long jackets, etc. Libraries acquired new materials and information. There was a destruction of the communist heritage, and promotion of democratic values and remembrance of those persecuted by communism.
In 1991, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (MCYS) was decreed by the new President of the Republic, and its aims were to bring Albanian culture and sport institutions in line with European standards. A new Albanian Constitution was adopted in 1998, which gave clear protections such as article 20 on Freedom of Expression, article 58 on Freedom of Artistic Creation, and chapter 5 on Social Objectives, giving some frameworks on shaping the free new society. Also, although there were many cultural groups and associations throughout Albania, with only eight recorded in the 1998 catalogue of the Albanian Foundation of Civil Society.
Discover & Develop Albania
In 2000, a Guide to the Cultural Policy of the Albanian state was produced by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports (MTCYS) to set new goals for the country, a national cultural policy in Albania based on European standards and models focusing on the promotion of identity and diversity, support of creativity and participation in cultural life. The underlying goal of such a cultural policy was to “bring down the walls that isolated Albania from the rest of the world, especially the West”. Culture and the arts, in this sense, are considered to be tools that will help to bring democratic development to the country and re-assert its cultural identity within the region and as an integral part of European cultural identity. According to the document, the implementation of the Strategy will increase the autonomy, competition and multi-dimensional role of arts and culture institutions in the country’s civil, democratic and economic life.
A Law on the Organisation and Functions of Local Government was adopted by the Parliament on 31 July 2000. The main principle of this Law was the autonomy of local government, the process of decentralising power unlike before when local governments had little political autonomy and high levels of social and economic responsibility.
After the political government election in 2005, changes were made to the title and functions of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, which resulted in the formation of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports. Tourism was set as a priority to brand, as a way to promote the country, its culture and heritage, and to increase visitors to the country and improve the infrastructure. Following the 2002-2012 Strategy for Tourism Development and the 2006 Strategy and Action Plan for Development of Natural and Environmental Tourism, the Sectoral Strategy for Tourism 2007-2013[4] was prepared. Also a National Youth Strategy and Plan of Action 2007-2013 was approved by the Albanian government on 18 March 2007.
In 2009 the Culture and Heritage for Social and Economic Development (CHSED) Programme was launched in Albania jointly by UNESCO and UNDP, in close partnership with the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The programme also worked with the Ministry of Education, the Institute of Cultural Monuments, the National Tourism Agency, local and regional governments, universities and civil society organizations, to support the Government of Albania to leverage the potential of Albania’s cultural heritage. By 2010, the CHSED ‘Culture Marketing Strategy for Albania’[5] was being prepared as a One Year Action Plan and Marketing Tools to help make Albanian culture accessible to target clients abroad and support local stakeholders such as the Ministry for Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports and its subordinate institutions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Tourism Agency and other relevant cultural institutions and destinations. The CHSED also included a ‘Cultural Diplomacy component’, to support the design of a cultural diplomacy policy for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In 2010, an open forum on “Culture Policies and the Culture Strategy of Albania”[6] was organized by the society “Friends of Music” (Miqtë e Muzikës) and supported by SOROS- Open Society Foundation Albania (OSFA) with the participation of representatives from state culture institutions. These institutions include the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports, National Theatre, Opera, National Art Gallery, professionals and civil society. This forum highlighted the importance of such strategic documents, including an action plan, and encouraged the work to progress. However, it was also noted that as Albania did not have a Memorandum of Understanding for Culture with the European Union, Albanian organisations were not able to compete for grants from the General Directory for Education and Culture at the European Commission.
As of 2013, Tourism, Youth and Sports were part of other ministries and the institution was named the Ministry of Culture, which under the development of cultural tourism during the period 2014 – 2018, implemented the programmes “Heritage – Development Engine”, “Routes of Faith” and “Routes of Memory.”
The commitment towards a strategic document for a National Culture Policy was progressed by the Albanian Ministry of Culture with the support of UNESCO and experts in 2016, emphasizing educational programmes, and later a guiding document was prepared titled “A culture strategy for Albania: Implementing the Cultural Bug[7]” in March 2018 by KEA European Affairs after many consultations with various stakeholders.
Finally, for the first time since 1990, Albania has a National Strategy on Culture[8] (NSC) 2019-2025, which was prepared by the Ministry of Culture, and is the most recent step taken to structure objectives for the development of the sector. The strategic document NSC 2019-2025 is in line with the “Government’s major programme implementation for urban regeneration and rural development, as well as sustainable development goals 2030”, addressed to central and local public institutions, independent cultural operators, NGOs, the private sector and other actors operating in the field of culture and cultural heritage. Strengthening the cultural sector continues to be one of the objectives of the midterm and long-term governance plans 2017-2021.
[1] https://exploproject.eu/news/underwater-investigations-at-lin-3-lake-ohrid-albania/
[2] Public Arts Tirana, Artistic Expressions of Past and Present, Blerina Berberi & Kevin Tummers, 2018 https://www.academia.edu/38120149/Public_Arts_Tirana_Artistic_Expressions_of_Past_and_Present
[3] History of the Albanian Governments, ShtetiWeb, Albania https://shtetiweb.org/category/historia-e-shtetit-shqiptar2/qeverite-e-shtetit-shqiptar/page/5/
[4] Sectoral Tourism Strategy 2007-2013, Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports https://vdocuments.net/strategjia-sektoriale-e-turizmit-2007-2013.html
[5] Culture Marketing Strategy for Albania 2010. http://www.undp.org/content/dam/albania/docs/Final%20CULTURE%20MARKETING%20STRATEGY-July1.pdf
[6] Policies and Culture Strategy, Gazeta Metropol Newspaper, May 13, 2010 http://www.arkivalajmeve.com/Politikat-dhe-strategjia-e-kultures.1046865760/
[7] A Cultural Strategy for Albania, Implanting the Cultural Bug, March 2018, Philippe Kern, KEA European Affairs, https://rm.coe.int/a-cultural-strategy-for-albania-implanting-the-cultural-bug/1680794665
[8] National Strategy for Culture 2019-2025, page 5, Albanian Ministry of Culture, 2019, http://kultura.gov.al/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/finale-Strategjia-Kombe%CC%88tare-pe%CC%88r-Kulture%CC%88n-2019-2025-ne-Anglisht.pdf
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