MONUMENT DE L'INDÉPENDANCE

This imposing statue (Independence Monument) stands on Flag Square in the historic center (2 km north of the port). It is one of the country's most famous monuments, along with the one dedicated to Skanderbeg in Tirana. It was inaugurated in 1972, to mark the sixtieth anniversary of Albania's declaration of independence on November 28, 1912. It is a 17-m-high bronze statue in the socialist realist style, featuring seven figures. At the bottom, the central figure is Ismail Qemali (1844-1919), a politician from Vlora who declared independence and became the country's first president. He is surrounded by five fighters symbolizing Albanian regions. At the top stands the bearer of the national flag. The work was created by three of the most active artists of the communist period: Mumtaz Dhrami (b. 1936), Shaban Hadëri (1928-2010) and Kristaq Rama (1932-1998). The latter is the father of Prime Minister Edi Rama, elected in 2012. Shaban Hadëri designed the magnificent statue of the fighter Isa Boletini in Shkodra. In the park behind the monument is the large marble tomb of Ismail Qemali. It was installed here in 1932 on the site where the flag was raised in 1912. The tomb is guarded by a bronze statue of a soldier carrying the flag. This was executed by Odhise Paskali (1903-1985), another great Albanian sculptor, whose work includes the Skanderbeg statue in Tirana.