“Ancient Cities and landscapes of Albania – One Hundred Years of Italian-Albanian archaeological missions”. Under this slogan and the image of God Apollo, in the environment of the National Historical Museum, was opened an exhibition organized by the Italian Institute of Culture and the Italian Embassy in collaboration with the National Historical Museum and the Institute of Archaeology.
The exhibition presented the main results of cooperation in the field of archaeological research between Italy and Albania, with a century-old history. The conference was preceded by the inauguration of the exhibition and opened by Adriana Frissena, the President of the Italian Institute of Culture. Once appreciated the bilateral cooperation in this project and the research itself as a great work in archeology after World War I, Mrs. Frissena gave the speech to the Minister of Culture, Mrs. Mirela Kumbaro. “One year ago we had cooperation in the field of architecture, – Minister Kumbaro said – and did not hesitate to extend this cooperation in the field of archeology. This is actually an annual between archaeologists.” In the meantime Mrs. Kumbaro made known another concern, that despite Albania and Italy has a relationship with the high intensity of cultural exchanges, somehow does not exist an officially agreement.
The Italian Ambassador of Tirana, Mr. Alberto Cutillo welcomed all the actors who made this event possible. As director of the Institute of Archaeology Mr. Luan Përzhita, among other things pointed out the fact that Albanian archeology begins with the Hasan Ceka who had once worked with Luigi Ugolini. Deputy / Prime Minister Mr. Niko Peleshi in his speech said that the exhibition is the best commemoration of joint missions made by Italian-Albanian archeology.
“In such an anniversary of this activity gets special value, since excavations have deepened significantly this period, not only the history but the discovery of ancient cities and the recognition of a large part of the Albanian territory”, said in his speech the Director of the National Historical Museum Mr. Melsi Labi. According to him, Ugolini and Marconi were among the first who materialized researching activities, but we must say that the presence of Italian missions in Albanian territory over the past two decades has been quite evident, constituting an essential step in the exchange of experience between archaeologists of both countries. Mr. Labi said also that in this exhibition, the National Historical Museum participates as an important actor that exposes archaeological value, part of joint discoveries.
The conference was attended by heads of Italian archaeological missions, Roberta Belli from the Polytechnic University of Bari, Sandro De Maria from the University of Bologna, Marco Peresani from the University of Ferrara, Roberto Perna of the University of Macerata, Sara Santoro from the University of Chieti and Giuliano Volpe from University of Foggia. Giuseppe Lepore was the curator of the exhibition and author of the bilingual catalog.
