The National Historical Museum opened the exhibition entitled “Albania and Albanians in the paintings of European authors of the 19th century”.

This exhibition contains 45 reproductions of paintings, where Albanians were widely part of foreign painters’ creativity, especially in the early years of the 19th century.

Albanians became part of these painters’ works who in addition to exoticism through figures, compositions and colors, also gave drama, tragedy or that rare lyricism that could exist in the heavy atmosphere of an imperial occupation.

In his welcoming speech, the director of the National Historical Museum, Dorian Koçi described the exhibition in question as a special cultural activity, in which Albania stands out in the creativity of foreign travelers, despite the fact that it did not yet exist politically. According to Koçi, foreign British or French painters, stayed in the court of Ali Pasha Tepelena, to visit other urban centers afterwards. These works are found in important museums of the European space, such as in the British museums, or in the Louvre Museum.

Dr. Koçi ended by emphasizing that we are in the year when jubilation became part of the world cultural heritage, and in the fact that the paintings of the exhibition are also accompanied by objects from the ethnographic fund of the National History Museum.

/k.s./