June 19, 1166 bears the date of the act of consecration of the church of Shën Trifon in Kotorr. The participation of high Arbëresh clergy in this ceremony speaks not only of the existence of the Principality of Arbër before 1166 but also of the relations it had with other Balkan feudal principalities.

On June 19, 1886, the Istanbul Society was able to get permission to open the Albanian School in Korça. Then such schools were opened in Kolonja, Pogradec, Luaras and Selca.

On June 19, 1921, in the city of Korça, the girls’ society “Zhvillimi” /Development/ was founded. It aimed at the emancipation and integration of young women into the life of the city.

On June 19, 1924, the Government of Noli announced its program of 20 points where the people were promised the first agrarian reform. The program envisaged the eradication of feudalism and the change of the tax system.

On June 19, 1943, the patriot, researcher and clergyman Father Artur Liolin, chancellor of the Albanian Orthodox Church in the US, was born. He has dedicated his whole life to the service, study and propaganda of Albanianess outside the borders of Albania. He was a collaborator of the luminaries of Albanian culture, Faik Konica and Fan Noli.

On June 19, 1988, the prominent Albanian stage and screen artist Marie Logoreci, People’s Artist, passed away. She was born in Shkodër, where she took her first steps on stage. Marie Logoreci was a singer, but she played with the theater troupe, where the director Pandi Stillu discovered her dramatic talent and took her to the People’s Theater. She played her first role on stage in 1947, which was followed by 50 other roles, one more prominent than the other. She made Ndrek Luca’s ‘Lokja’ in “Toka Jonë” /Our land/ an immortal tragic and majestic character. Marie Logoreci occupies a place of honor in the pantheon of Albanian art, as part of our national identity.

/a.p./