Kristo Frashëri was born on 4 December 1920 in Istanbul.

In 1927, his family returned to Albania and settled in Tirana. He completed high school in 1940 and then enrolled in the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the University of Florence. However, in 1942 the fascist occupation authorities interned him. One year later, he joined the partisan forces. After the war, he worked at the State Bank of Albania from 1945 to 1952.

He pursued higher studies at the Faculty of History and Philology at the Higher Pedagogical Institute between 1951 and 1955. From 1953 to 1999, he served in several major institutions, including the Institute of Sciences, the Institute of History and Linguistics, and the Faculty of History and Philology at the University of Tirana. In 1997, he became Deputy Chair of the Albanian Academy of Sciences, a position he held until 1999.

Frashëri produced a large and diverse body of scholarly work. His research covered all periods of Albanian history, from Antiquity to the modern era. He published dozens of studies, historical papers, documentary volumes, and monographs. Notably, his works addressed early medieval Albania, feudal structures, medieval state formations, the Ottoman feudal system, the Albanian National Awakening, the Vlora Independence War, and the lives of Abdyl and Sami Frashëri.

After 1990, he continued to publish influential studies. These include:
“The League of Prizren 1878–1881” (1997);
“Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg: Life and Work” (2002);
“History of Tirana” (2004);
“History of the Left-Wing Movement in Albania” (2006);
“Skanderbeg in Albanian Documentary Sources of the 15th Century” (2005);
“Albanian National Identity” (2006);
“Albanian Historiography in Transition” (2006);
“The Declaration of Independence, 28 November 1912” (2008);
“History of Albanian Civilization” (2008).

Academician Kristo Frashëri passed away on 31 January 2016.

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