VOA: Cultural heritage monuments continue to be damaged in Shkodër

Most of the inhabited areas in Albania continue to preserve important evidence of cultural and historical heritage, which in recent years have become an important part of cultural tourism. But, as Voice of America correspondent Pëllumb Sulo reports, in a city like Shkodra, some of them have been destroyed over the years, or continue to be damaged due to the lack of interest from the responsible structures and ownership problems.

Located in the center of the city of Shkodra, the English Tower, a "Cultural Monument" of the first category, represents one of the rare values ​​of cultural heritage, part of the cultural and historical identity of a city like Shkodra.

During the years of the dictatorship, it was transformed into the Historical Museum of Shkodra, while, after 1991, it returned to its rightful owners, maintaining the status of a Cultural Monument.

Two of the 28 co-owners, Adnan Ulqinaku and Abdullah Çoba, show how during the last 30 years this important cultural monument continued to be damaged in front of the responsible institutions.

Adnani says that there was no interference from the state and it degraded to this extent.

"It was 1997, later 2013. So, there were several stages of extensive damage to the building. Today it has arrived in this state that you are looking at. These are concerns, but concerns that are not finding remedies. If there was any medicine, if there was intervention from the competent bodies, something would be done", he says.

Having the status of "Monument of Culture", says the other co-owner Abdullah Çoba, they are not allowed to interfere in the maintenance and restoration. Therefore, throughout the years, they have addressed continuous requests to the institutions to save the English Tower, but nothing has changed.

"The indifference of the authorities, both local and central. They come from time to time. They investigate the condition of the facility, see what the problems are, but it remains there and nothing more," he says.

After 1991, the Museum House of Luigj Gurakuqi was finally destroyed, as well as the house of the poet Filip Shiroka. While the Migjen Museum House was closed and the building passed to a religious community. Another Cultural Monument, the house of the chairman of the League of Prizren, Shkodër branch, Daut Boriç, suffered serious damage until it lost the status of a Cultural Monument. Even Kafja e Madhe, another proof of Shkodra's identity, did not escape the destruction, while Pashko Vasa's house, already quite damaged, was left in oblivion. On the plate where it is written

"Pashko Vasa Cultural Monument Apartment", the owner Rajmonda Vasa has added "It is not protected by the state".

"The situation is a disaster and everyone has given up. They gave funds in advance, but they stole more and I was not able to stop the state thief who stole from Pashko Vasa's house. This is the main one. And my spirit is weary and I have no more strength. Let it degrade".

The researcher Zamir Tafilica, showing how the Cultural Monument house of Hodo Sokoli, commander of the troops of the League of Prizren, Shkodra branch, and of the other heir, the musicologist Ramadan Sokoli, is being destroyed, says that the indifference of the institutions is accompanied by the degradation of heritage values cultural and historical of this city.

"At the beginning of the 90s, when we expected increased attention for these constructions, not only for the houses, but for all the cultural monuments of the city of Shkodra, on the contrary, there was a total destruction of them. An almost complete raid of them. Neither the legal aspect nor the institutions were functioning. So many buildings that had great values, not only monumental, but also historical, were degraded one after the other", he says.

However, according to the director of the Shkodër Regional Directorate of Cultural Heritage, Besara Podgorica, most of these objects continue to be on the list of Cultural Monuments.

"Given that many objects no longer exist, such as Luigj Gurakuqi's house, which still holds the status of a Cultural Monument, there is still no decision-making by the National Institute of Cultural Heritage to remove the status of these objects", she says.

The transition period was also full of challenges for the structures that deal with the identification and preservation of cultural heritage values, challenges that, according to Besara Podgorica, are mainly related to ownership problems.

"The main challenges are the lack of legal statuses of properties. Similarly, in apartments that have more than one owner, it is very difficult to conclude an agreement between them in order to give the green light or pave the way for state investments".

For the year 2024, the Shkodër Regional Directorate of Cultural Heritage is expected to intervene in 8 objects; in Kukës, Lezhë and Shkodër, where the intervention in the apartment of Pashko Vasa and that of Filip Čeka also stands out. VOA