Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al publishes the unknown history of the regulatory plan of Tirana, which was undertaken by architect Grani Strazimiri, since he was a student in the Soviet Union after 1945, and how he tried to implement it, when he returned from his studies, at the beginning of In the 1950s, that plan was approved by the Executive Committee of Tirana, in the meeting held on November 12, 1953, after the consultation and assistance of two well-known Russian architects, Kratjuk and Polyakov, had previously been obtained. What did that regulatory plan for the Albanian capital, which was entrusted to implement to the young architect Gani Strazimiri, foresee, what were the old constructions and buildings of the pre-war period, which would not be touched and where they were planned to be established and built, some of the main buildings, from the Prime Minister’s Office or as it was called at that time “The Great Government Palace”, the reconstruction of “Skënderbej” Square, the “Opera and Ballet Theatre”, the “Great Exhibition Palace”, The National Museum’, the ‘Botanical Park’, the ‘Zoological Park’, the ‘Hippodrome’, up to the ‘Great Drama Theatre’, etc. All this becomes known from an interview of the architect Gani Strazimiri, given in 1953 to the journalist Hasan Petrela, for the magazine “Friendship” (organ of the Albania-Soviet Union Friendship Association), where he explains in detail all his work for regulatory plan of Tirana.
The article of the magazine “Friendship” in 1953, entitled “The new architect”, by the journalist Hasan Petrela
One day in 1936, a young man appeared in the office of the Minister of Education, with a prayer in his hand, asking his “Excellence”, Nush Bushati, for a scholarship to continue his higher studies abroad.
“Shkelkesa”, the minister who went to the door of the office unsuspectingly, didn’t even hang up on the boy, but told the driver the last orders:
– So, go to Sara’s house (here we are talking about Sara Blloshmi, an immoral and adventurous woman), and together with her leave for Durrës. Then come get me. Don’t forget to take with you, the French vein….., the French vein, ehhh? And his eyes usually go out, lifeless as if they were kindled at that moment, perhaps from a thought that came to him so suddenly….
The driver left without a word, while the boy extended his prayer: For a scholarship to excellence…?
– What are you looking for…?
– Scholarship, Excellency, I graduated from the Artistic High School with very good grades.
The minister left, leaving behind the sound of the door being slammed shut. I am not going to tell you how things turned out later, how this boy wandered from school to school, from the Artistic High School to the gymnasium, how he went to Italy and how he left there, with the first call of the Albanian Communist Party, how he also had political functions in the ranks of the National Liberation Army, how his father was killed in the war for liberation, being 85 years old, how just after the liberation of the homeland, the People’s Power awarded him a scholarship for an architect, sending him in the country that he loved with all his soul, in the great homeland of socialism, we are not going to tell you that: there among the Soviet students, he graduated as an architect, but I want to emphasize that from that day in 1936 , a full 17 years have passed, the former boy – now a serious man with completely gray hair, today he is an architect, the head of the Urban Planning Sector near Enterprise – Project in Tirana.
I found him at work, where he was drawing with a pencil on a transparent paper, big, beautiful buildings…
– What are these…?! – I asked him in a friendly way after we got to know each other….-
– New palaces for Tirana….
-You also have Tirana’s regulatory plan in hand?!!….
– And who told you?!…he asked me and looked at me with scrutinizing eyes.
– Director, why isn’t it true, huh?!….He let out a sigh and without thinking, he said to me:
– Ah, what are you journalists, you leave nothing unanswered?!
– I intend to write for you…
-What are you going to write about me?!
– That you are a young architect and that…
– He immediately cut me off: – There are a lot of architects here. Every year their number is increasing….
– Yes, you have in hand the regulation plan of our beloved city… – It seemed that something was thinking. Then he smiled and said slowly:
– Here, each of us has something beautiful in our hands. It is good, for example, to write about constructions in the city of workers in pathos. Look at that guy over there – it’s the young engineer, Koço Miho, who came back from the Soviet Union this year. Look at that other one beyond, – is Remzi Skenderi. He has in hand the regulatory plan of Rrogozhina, the future industrial city. And the architect Kristaq Sahatçia, has the constructions for the year 1954 in the city of Durrës. Why, are these less interesting? In our homeland, magnificent constructions are made everywhere.
-Why not write about Tirana’s regulatory plan? – I asked him after a short silence.
– No, I have no objection, even I am happy, but I will ask you not to say a word about me.
-He made a gesture with his hand, gave someone an answer to what he was asked, and continued:
– Do we agree?! …
– Yes! I answered you unintentionally. Here I want to give a small clarification to our readers. I have heard the above story of the boy, from someone else. From a close friend of his, that he himself, he didn’t tell me half a word about his life, about the great work he has done, since he was a student in Moscow, where he undertook to present the regulation plan of Tirana, a plan of which later with the great help of the famous Soviet architects, Kratjuk and Paljakov, who came and studied Tirana in the country, became concrete and was approved by the Executive Committee of the city of Tirana, on the night of November 12, 1953.
– You want to know what Tirana will be like in 20 years?!…. The architect asked me. When I expressed my desire to do so, then we sat next to each other and he began to talk to me passionately about this great plan of our government.
– The project of the plan was made on the basis of socialist principles of construction, in support of the very rich experience of the development of socialist cities in the Soviet Union. This plan has already started to be realized. In Shallvaren, along Lana, opposite the prime minister’s office, four to five-story buildings have been erected. These constructions in this area will continue in the next five years.
-Does this five-year plan foresee the beginning of the works for the Great Theater of Opera and Ballet? You often pass by “Konferenca e Peza” Street. Stop for a moment in front of the officers’ shop. Look carefully at that place: There will be the Great Theater. This palace – one of the largest buildings in the city – will change the whole view of the center of the capital. Think that more than 80 million ALL have been provided for the building alone.
-Always based on the regulatory plan, kindergartens and nurseries, schools, institutions, etc. will be built. An important place in the middle will be occupied by the “Exhibition Pavilion”, which will be built where “Kursali” is…
– The main square of the city – will be where it is today, but will undergo expansion and reconstruction. Starting from the fact that the city has the main entrance from the west and Dajti mountain as a background, the large government palace, in all variants, is located in the Old Market, with the main front from the west, thus occupying the most dominant place and most important of the capital. Oh, what a magnificent building that government will be. It is predicted that its architecture will also be of a high craftsmanship, thus making the building the most dominant. In front of me, there will be the monument of J.V. Stalin and the tribune of parades and large demonstrations…
– The city will be completely green. A magnificent park will be built behind the Ministry of National Defense. This park is connected to the center of the capital through a green area that passes to the left and right of the “Heroes of the Nation” Boulevard. The main entrance to this park is from the square in front of the Ministry of Defense, where a monument will be erected. It is thought that today’s palace of the Ministry of Defense will become the National Museum and on the top of the hill, which rises behind this building, the panorama of the National Liberation War will be erected. Panorama, it is called a magnificent building, where inside it will be presented in relief and models, paintings and sculptures, the most important moments of the National Liberation War.
– The central park will also include the large National Stadium “Qemal Stafa”. The Zoological Park with an artificial lake is also planned to be built here. In addition to public parks, the Botanical Park and the Hippodrome in the southwest of Tirana have also been designed. In a uniform way, the regional sports centers are also distributed in the city.
-As a rest center for the employees of the capital, it is proposed to be the Dajti mountain field, 1000 meters above sea level. In addition to this field, it is thought that Brari will also be a recreation center, where a bathing lake for the capital’s residents will be created with little expense. Another such lake is supposed to be built across the Beshir Bridge… The big Drama Theater will also be built, and…
-On top of that, suddenly, someone – it was a girl with a thin body and yellow hair – interrupted our conversation.
– Comrade Gani Strazimiri, the director is looking for you – … she said to the architect.
– The architect looked at me lovingly. – Allow me a minute? He asked me. In the depths of his eyes, I felt like I tasted the future Tirana, the magnificent Tirana, the industrial and cultural epicenter of Socialist Albania. /Memorie.al
