The National Historical Museum commemorated today the renowned Albanologist Johann Georg von Hahn.

Born on July 11, 1811, Johann Georg von Hahn (1811–1869) was an Austrian diplomat and the most prominent Albanologist of the 19th century. He played a key role in the scholarly study and documentation of the Albanian language, culture, and history.

Between 1834 and 1843, he served as a judge in several Greek provinces, where he encountered Albanian communities. From 1847 to 1850, he was Austria’s vice-consul for “Lower Albania,” stationed in Ioannina. There, he studied the Albanian language with the assistance of Kostandin Kristoforidhi and Apostol Meksi.

Hahn made three expeditions through Albania. He collected data on the country’s history, philology, and folklore. He showed deep interest in the spiritual world and historical identity of Albanians and the Arbëresh of Greece.

During these journeys, Hahn gathered material for his monumental three-volume work, Albanesische Studien (Albanian Studies), published in 1854. This work marked the first attempt to argue—through a multidisciplinary lens that included history, linguistics, and ethnography—the autochthony of the Albanian people, their Illyrian origin, and the derivation of the Albanian language from Illyrian. He also confirmed its classification within the Indo-European language family.

Importantly, Hahn’s thesis later served the ideologues of the Albanian National Renaissance. It helped shape national consciousness and supported the historical claims for autonomy and independence in territories inhabited  by Albanians.

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