On June 29, 1892, a prominent activist of the National Renaissance and one of its first ideologists, the poet and publicist Pashko Vasa passed away.

He was born in Shkodër. He took his first lessons in his homeland and served as a secretary at the British consulate. In 1847 he went to Italy and participated in the liberation war of the people of this country. In Istanbul, he took important positions in the Ottoman administration. In 1878-1882 he was already a prominent figure of the Istanbul Committee for the defense of Albania. In 1879, he was among the most active activists of the “Albanian Printing Society”. Pashko Vasa is the author of a series of works with a political and historical character, in which he defended the national rights of the Albanian people. He wrote a series of works which served to solve the issue of writing and learning Albanian; “The Latin alphabet applied to the Albanian language” (“L’alphabet latin appliqué à la langue albanaise”, Constantinople 1878, “Albanian grammar to be used by those who wish to learn this language without the help of a teacher” (“Grammaire albanaise à l’usage de ceux qui désirent apprendre cette langue sans l’aide d’un maître”, London 1887).

Pashko Vasa took an important place in the history of Albanian literature that was flourishing. He is the author of the well-known poem “Moj Shqypni, e mjera Shqypni” (1880), a poetic Albanian Renaissance of XIX century manifesto.

Pashko Vasa passed away in Lebanon. His remains were brought to Homeland in 1978 and rest in Shkodër.

/a.p./