MOSAIC AT THE NATIONAL HISTORY MUSEUM
Large 565 mosaic from the Communist era. Dating from 1981, it depicts "Mother Albania" leading the Albanian people.
This superb 565m2 mosaic (Mozaiku i Fasadës së Muzeut Historik Kombëtar) adorns the façade of the National History Museum, north of Skanderbeg Square. Called Shqipëria ("The Albanians"), it is 11 m high and 40 m long. It was commissioned by Enver Hoxha and inaugurated on October 28, 1981. Comprising tesserae of 123 different colors, it represents "The Albanian people's drive towards independence and identity". The three central figures are "Mother Albania", in the form of a young woman in traditional costume brandishing a rifle, a communist worker and a partisan. On the left, five figures (from left to right): an Illyrian warrior, two fighters from the Skanderbeg era, the writer Naim Frashëri and a fighter from the Rilindja Kombëtare period in traditional Epirus garb. On the right, four other armed partisans representing the workers' and peasants' union. The stars, symbols of communism, had been removed during two restorations carried out in 1992 and 2011. But as the mosaic was damaged by the 2019 earthquake (51 dead, over 3,000 injured and 14,000 buildings affected in the Tirana-Durrës region), new work was undertaken in 2023 with the support of the European Union and the UN. The work was directed by Agim Nebiu, one of the five artists who designed the mosaic in 1981. The stars have now returned.
