Pyramid of Tirana

Not to be confused with Pyramiden Museum.

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

Pyramid of Tirana
General information
Town or city Tirana
Country Albania
Design and construction
Architect Pirro Vaso, Klement Kolaneci, Pranvera Hoxha, and Vladimir Bregu

The pyramid: International Center of Culture (Albanian: Piramida) is a structure and former museum in Tirana, Albania, that opened on October 14, 1988. Formerly known as the "Enver Hoxha Museum", this pyramid-shaped structure was designed by the daughter and son-in-law of the late communist leader Enver Hoxha.[1] It served as a museum about his legacy, but after 1991 became a conference center and exhibition venue. Some sources have referred to it as the "Enver Hoxha Mausoleum" although this was not an official appellation.[2] The building was said to be the most expensive which had ever been constructed in Albania.[3]

The group of architects who worked on the Pyramid were Pirro Vaso, Klement Kolaneci, Pranvera Hoxha, and Vladimir Bregu.[4]

During the 1999 Kosovo War, the museum was used as a base by NATO and humanitarian organizations.[5]

It appears that the 17,000 meters square complex may be destroyed for the new Albanian parliament to be built on its place.[6][7][8] However, some leading foreign architects have opposed such a move while other supported it. Historian Ardian Klosi, who died recently, initiated a petition not to demolish the structure with around 6000 signatures. Prior to being designated as the seat of the Albanian parliament, the structure was originally supposed to be turned into an opera theater. However construction works were halted, while the exterior marble tiles were removed and seen in a depot outside of Tirana.[9]

Since 2001, part of the Pyramid is used as broadcasting center by Albanian TV channel Top Channel.[10] The surrounding space is currently being used as a parking lot, and bus station for mini vans to Elbasan.

In 2011, part of Armando Lulaj's film It Wears as it Grows was shot inside the pyramid.

References

  1. ↑ "Pyramid in Tirana, Albania". Lonely Planet. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  2. ↑ "Раздел "Вопросы, ответы, комментарии" сайта "Энвер Ходжа. Его жизнь и работа". Страница 2". Enverhoxha.ru. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  3. ↑ Janine Schueller (2014-11-23). "The Pyramid | Sights | Tirana". Inyourpocket.com. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  4. ↑ "Kolaneci: Forma e Piramidës, në harmoni me malin e Dajtit" [Kolaneci: Form of the Pyramid, in harmony with the mountain of Dajtit] (in Albanian). 2009-12-03.
  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. ↑ "Cultural and Sports: should Pyramid be torn down?". Southeast European Times. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
  7. ↑ "Mblidhet komisioni shteteror për ndërtimin e parlamentit te ri". Shtypi i Dites (in Albanian). Retrieved 6 November 2010.
  8. ↑ "Parlamenti i ri i Shqipërisë, 17 mijë metra katrorë - Shqipëri - Lajme - Koha Net". Retrieved 6 November 2010.
  9. ↑ "Piramida që ha paratë e shqiptarëve". YouTube. 2009-09-26. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  10. ↑ Morton, Ella (2014-01-28). "The fight to preserve Albania's ugly Pyramid of Tirana". Slate.com. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
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