Today, Prime Minister Edi Rama participated in the meeting held in Kruja, together with the head of the European Union delegation, Ambassador Luigi Soreca and the Minister of Culture Elva Margariti, organized in the framework of the presentation of the Ethnographic Museum project, grant announcement of the EU4Culture program and the “Revitalization Bonus”.

In his speech, the Prime Minister said that we are in a meeting that is in the continuation of a joint work and effort, in this case with the European Commission, in order to transform a severe crisis caused by the earthquake, in a series of new opportunities for the affected, for children, young people, family and the areas themselves, where our cultural heritage is also affected.

“We are convinced that this program has an extraordinary potential and we are ready to strengthen it year after year, but it is very important to have a concrete reaction from the residents and to build models. We have entered a dead end in the field of rural development, where ARDA has been a bridge of communication between the EU, government and private enterprises. My invitation to all the inhabitants of all areas in Kruja, Berat, Gjirokastra, Shkodra and everywhere else where there are such values, is to get involved and do what the path of Europeanization in the European family teaches us every day more and more, that  financial supports come with convincing ideas, projects, applications not like alms that are scattered up and down,”said Rama.

The symbolic tower of Kruja, a monument with special historical and cultural values, is being reconstructed to return to identity, thanks to a project developed in collaboration with the Swedish government.

“The tower is already in the full situation of emergency reinforcement, it is all stabilized. The first step taken by the Albanian government was to design the project for the emergency phase. It was a project that was carried out without being able to directly access the tower because it was constantly in danger of moving the entire part of the stones,” explained the Minister of Culture Elva Margariti, during the inspection that Prime Minister Rama conducted today in this building.

The purpose of the project is to secure the Clock Tower and prevent further degradation as well as reaction during seismic activity in the future. Reinforcement works will improve the capacity of the structure for a considerable period of time, creating opportunities for further documentation of the tower, as well as the realization of the final restoration project.

“This project in cooperation with the Swedish government, enabled the further advancement with all the implementation of this structure. The structure has reviewed the first project, because at the moment we were in contact with the facility, we made technical changes. It is all reinforced both outside and inside, it is totally accessible and this has given us the opportunity to design the final restoration project with more precision. We have started to advance with the fund of the American government, the fund of the ambassador, which for the first time is given to Albania in the full amount of 800 thousand dollars for all post-earthquake objects and we will start with a geological study of the whole area under tower.

We are going through another detail through the experts and the American fund and this will make it possible for us to continue with the full restoration. The situation was even worse than what we had noticed in the first stage even though the detailing was done with lasers. Within 2 months, the entire geological study of the area around the tower will be completed and we will continue with the implementation of the ambassador fund. At this stage the tower is all monitored by sensor for every movement. We have combined many digital elements for the first time and this has brought significant improvements of interventions in heritage,” said Minister Margariti.

/Klara Ruci/