By Fatmira Nikolla
Memorie.al / This time it will not be the story of Flaubert’s Bovarysm, nor that of Chekhov’s “Lady with the Dog,” nor the despair of Buzzati’s “Woman with Wings,” nor the life message in Alexandre Dumas’s “Lady of the Camellias,” but a story that broke my personal taboos about the concept of love. She will be the woman of the capital – “Lady Tirana,” Qevser Toptani (Tirana). The new publication by psychologist Anxhela Peza recounts this woman. “Lady Tirana” is based on the true story of Qevser Toptani. The story begins in the 1850s and comes down to recent times, parading before us distinguished ladies with hats, who gave a precious contribution to the capital of Tirana.
This is about the niece of the great Renaissance poet Naim Frashëri, the daughter of Murad Toptani, who married the only son of Haxhi Et’hem Bej Tirana (the younger). She was born in Turkey and lived in Tirana, giving contributions to open the maternity hospital for the first time. At the same time, she would take children from the North to raise them in her home, educate them, and then set them free with a sum of money. She invested large sums of money in the reconstruction of the mosque and the minaret.
All her life she followed social politics to help the poorest and invested her wealth in the construction of the capital. The life she led was entirely Western. An iron lady, whose personality even communism could not break. She left an elegant impression even in the salons of Europe. She was educated in Rome and possessed 6 foreign languages. The only sister among 9 brothers, who was educated in the best places in the world and by her mother, Asije Frashëri.
QEVSER AND NJAZI
The book recounts the lives of the children of Murad Toptani and Asije Frashëri. Qevser was the daughter of Murad Toptani and married the only son of Haxhi Et’hem Beu, the oil engineer (AIPA) Njazi bej Tirana. At one point in history, the Toptani family and the Frashëri family had become one – Vesimeja, the sister of Murad and Refik Toptani, married the youngest of the Frashëri brothers, Mehmet Frashëri.
Later Asija, the daughter of Naim Frashëri, married Murad, so in a way, they became a single family. As a small child, Qevseri would calm down only with the piano and had an exaggerated curiosity. She would climb on chairs and strike the keys with her palms to imitate her mother. She was 18 years old when she kissed Albanian soil. Njazi, a tall, handsome man, always dressed in a pearl-white suit, with a sheen that came almost in grey, was standing in the corner of the salon of hotel “Dajti.”
While at the other end, opposite, stood Qevseri, with her arm resting on her father. In profile one could distinguish her abundant curls, but also a somewhat distinctive expression. They were conversing with two others facing them. When those interlocutors left shortly after, her face turned toward Njazi. Her crystal-clear, strong teeth shone from afar. Somehow his gaze caught her.
He slowly removed his hat from his head, looking at her more attentively, and asked Lym Petrela: – “Tell me, by the eyes of the forehead, is that the jewel you want to make my bride”? The son of Haxhi Et’hem Beu, his only heir, wanted to marry a Toptani woman. Previously many Toptani men had married Bargjini girls, so he wanted another Bargjini to marry that Toptani princess. Did he want Murad Beu’s daughter for a Bargjini-Toptani kinship? They had advised him to marry her, but when he saw her, he wanted her absolutely.
“What finesse? Look, look, how she has made her cape… like a crown, thrown over her large white shoulders… like the seagulls of Rimini. I am sure it must be her. Her beauty blinds me…! The most beautiful of all the beys’ ladies I have seen; the most magnificent of all the worldly salons. Although they had spoken to me about her, I did not expect her to shine so much.”
Qevser Toptani was a woman who, when she passed, cast a heavy shadow on the ground. Medium build, with straight shoulders, and her bust came forward full. Her chin in the shape of a “U” pressed from below. Long eyebrows, beautifully curved; with small, round, and written eyes. She swayed her hand accompanying her words.
She was among the first Tirana women who sought to embrace fashion innovations in clothing. She found it very easy to adapt to the extravagance of the time. She liked various hats: those with feathers, those tilted to the side. In salons she wore crowns and diamond jewelry, which she had made to order, with the model she desired. When she walked, she weighted her foot in her steps. Her long neck gave self-confidence to her personality. She stood in sync in everything.
As the daughter of Murad Toptani and niece of Naim Frashëri, she created a great impression wherever she went. A woman of authority, persistent. She imposed seriousness. She established authority from the first minutes.
Njazi was staying in Vienna. He was continuing his university studies on the mineral of oil, as its future engineer. To study that field required proper dedication. Often he missed Qevseri and her, at least once a month, traveled often there.
In Austria, her brothers also studied at a university college. She had made her in-laws friends too, not only as kinship ties. The marriage between Njazi and Qevseri, to reconcile the two families (Bargjini and Toptani), after more than a century in conflict, settled the saga of the quarrel. The Toptanis had always been of the rifle, but the Bargjinis, who had founded Tirana, had a great influence on its population.
When Qevseri stayed in Austria, she would go with Njazi and her brothers to the salons and balls organized by the local aristocracy, showing interest in fashion, literature, culture, and in magazine subscriptions, to bring them to Tirana.
THE SULTAN’S GIFT
Her husband placed a box in her hand. When Qevseri asked him what was inside, he opened it and out came a ballerina doing a pirouette, to the sounds of a melody in the background. That melody resembled the Turkish anthem. Inside the box were three precious stones: sapphire, ruby, diamond. In 1603, Sultan Mehmed III, the son of Sultan Ahmet I, had made this gift to Ahmet Pasha Bargjini.
Since he had only daughters and married them all to Toptanis, they themselves decided to give it to Mulla Beu. This is the reversal of the marriage between me and you, because the only Bargjini boy married a Toptani girl this time. This gift of Sultan Mehmed III is the inheritance of our clan and father left it as a trust for me. So, even though she is a girl, our daughter will inherit it./ Memorie.al
