Artists participating are just students who have graduated in Multimedia and others are on the verge of protection degree
An exhibition titled completely separate “profile 042″ was in bloom yesterday environments gallery “Kumi”. Were students of the Academy of Arts, who this time in an environment unlike those we have seen so far brought their works to the public with photographs and instilacione. In this exhibition of new students have worked under the leadership of the atelierit multimedia pedagogut the Faculty of Arts Vladimir Myrtezait optical and with the help of curators and Miliada Hysenaj Klodjan Alldervishi. The exhibition is regarded as an initiative to help young students, for those towards the end of studies or for those who just have time to have graduated. “Profil042″ is the new initiative between young artists and the historical tradition of photography Albanian. An interesting initiative to profile a famous tradition of mjeshtërisë with a tradition still not very well known in the media of photography that happens today.
This first edition we hope to create a bed art event which will be the continuation of a tradition more than in the search for new public spaces for artists to enhance the mediation of new opportunities in all of its display in trench his research as an important element in the lives of artists, the exhibition shows pedagogu Vladimir Myrtezai. In this exhibition of art students have presented in this gallery environments ideas and their positions in relation to new media of photography and video. “The main impetus of the collaboration that made this interesting students of the Academy to awake in a certain way by a kind letargjia and konsumizmi public and to gray attacked this disinterest in consumer environments. In the street, in cafes, etc. in the urban space, with the intention that the artist goes to the public, following further pedagogu of multimedia Myrtezai.
According to him, the initiative has become evident now through multiple operators and supporters of the arts to realize this idea and how to increase more strongly all forms of interventionist artists, using all the spaces and forms of media in one form by demokratizuar expression and making the intervention as part of their normal development and ndërkomunikimit between them. In this exhibition have presented the work of their 11 students, two of whom were later evaluated and priced. According pedagogut Myrtezai: “This product art in general is an important part of art school and in particular the atelierit multimedia and because specifikës and its format should be indicated and the consumer found the work of art eventi like this.
Artists who participate in numerous student who have just done the degree in multimedia and others are on the verge of protection at the Academy of Arts degree. All the issues come from the numerous developments in the atelier and take the form of their influence to more open to the public and why not take and an assessment of their public. A key element of the exhibition is the old tradition of photography, which joins the picture today with a completely new face model, interpretation and philosophising. They fotografojnë the first thing that makes viewing eu impressed not bring a lead to reality, but trying to bring through kuadratit that fotografojnë, concepts that drive the Albanian society. “Says the other pedagogu.
Furthermore he adds that an element with an interest in a way and helps to create appropriate strategies to help artists and is leaving the cheap and in a sense take students from an act of healing on their product which that will extend and further to increase the skills competition in the management of spaces of their new art. The new curator Claude Miliada Hysenaj Alldervishi and come with a new experience in the management of their product. Young artists who presented their work came with a portfolio of artistic works. Was presented to the public works by Iva Seferi, Elda floor, Anisa Kazazi, Andon Ziu, Elton Gurakuqi, Briken Rozhani, Entela Hoxha, Miliada Hysenaj, Klodjan Alldervishi Anjeza Dyrmishi, Silver Niksic Dritan Mesareja etc..
The jury of this art intervention was composed of journalists, photographers, artists who finally split the two trophy in media photography and video media. Petrit Kumi, Hamza naiad, Fabjola Haxhillari, Thoma Thomai, were members of the jury. The first edition of “profile 042″ is an initiative of young artists of the Academy of Fine Arts gallery with “Kumi”.

“120 years of art and sculpture in Albania picturës” stands open to the public
Muzeale Line at the National Gallery of Art these days has had an influx of visitors, who visit its facilities. Çeljes Following this line, and many works are exhibited, which previously were not in these facilities. “Line muzeale particular, which remains open for several days on the premises of the new National Gallery of Arts, has attracted recently, the attention of visitors not only Albanians, but also foreign ones, to make known its employees. Several days ago, this institution has emerged before artdashësve kryeqytetas, with a new face with new ambition, but especially in this day is inaugurating the new lines muzeale under the name “120 years of art and sculpture pikturës from Albania end of the century. by the end of XIX century. XX. By employees GKA learned that not only new facilities and modern history in particular containing Thumbnails displayed in the line muzeale have attracted a large number of visitors, who belong to all ages, while these days can GKA be visited falas.Që years from’90, when the fall of communism and the entry of democracy in our country, every piece of art, which had to do with dictatorship was removed or destroyed in the National Gallery of Arts, meanwhile, hundreds of works implementation basements remain socialist institution. Finally the construction of this line muzeale paintings banned the “democracy” such as those with an Albanian communist leaders banned and paintings of communism, created in the same period with the first, are on display in the permanent pavijonin exposure inaugurated these days in the GKA. Besides paintings, the rooms have exposed sculptures, where the history, distinguishes between a half-body (nudo) of the author Janaq PACO. This work was made the property of GKA on 5 May 1964 and until the year’74 was full. Precisely in that year, the League of Writers and Artists of Albania and Security State forced sculptor PACO Janaq to all violated the spirit of modern works, as can not be allowed any influence of foreign art works implementation socialist. At the same time, was also broken nudoja already halfway exhibited in GKA. By Rubens Shima director, this is described as a historic moment for the National Gallery of Arts. This line includes a period of nearly 120, years starting from year 1883, annually holds picture ’sister Sound’ Kole of Idromenos and running by early 2000, indicating that the path described in the visual arts to get Albania at the beginning of the XXI century. But this particular line of permanent exhibitors is that it comes as a new structure for art historical Albanian, which is not based on the old formula of “Socialist realism, Renaissance – art 90 years after”, but builds on a new concept sections partitions of the disbursed pikturës and sculpture in our country. Are conceived six sections that follow are structured Albanian history of art. The first section, titled “the content of pikturës in the Albanian towns” summarizes artifaktet first Albanian pikturës and sculpture, divided by two so-called period of “Art of the Renaissance and Independence” and grouped by authors and works that mark the beginnings of a pictorial secular country. The second section, titled “Realistic Paintings and drawings of the School” (1930-1950) summarizes the authors’ works and the first educated in the schools of art of neighboring countries, but also evidenton a historic moment as the opening of the school of art Tirana in 1931. The third section “Paintings / sculptures and academic topic picture with historical (1950 – 1986)” trying to penetrate the nature of an art to complete the technical achievements that made the function of politics and power, producing the typical historical picture that accompanies Socialist period of implementation. This section tries to make a switch to soften the realistic paintings inherited from the years’40, pikturës towards implementation of the Socialist that begins in the years’60 to continue until the end of’80 years. “Socialist realism, Building the New Human Models (1960-1986)” section is the following which deliberately focuses on the most crucial aspect of this art, the construction of ‘new man’ and përçimit socialist propaganda. For the first time, National Gallery devotes a whole room of the so-called paintings formaliste the years’70, the fifth section, titled “Pictures Formaliste the implementation Socialist (1969-1974)”, which tries to shed light and bring the details an important aspect in our culture as it is called “liberalism of the years’70,” which reflected the developments in the visual arts. The last section “Paintings and sculptures moderniste (1989-2001)” with nëntemën “elements pikturës moderniste in the years 1960-70″, trying to document changes in the Albanian art, which come with the collapse of socialism, to come to a pictorial moderniste, held during the decade 1990-2000.

Found the first pictures of Michelangelo’s, conducted at age 12-13-year-old. A work of art, believed to be the first paintings of Michelangelo’s, completed when he was age 12 or 13-year-old was taken from a museum in Texas, by drawing attention of other major galerive. “The Kimbell Art Museum”, based in Fort worth, has paid an undisclosed much for “The Torment of St. Anthony.” Although the origin of pikturës has been discussed for a long time, the opinion of experts is faltering in recent months, about the view that in fact this is the earliest pictures of known masterly. Works in oil and temper, with a paintbrush plepi size 47cm x 34cm, dates back to the year 1487 or’88. At that time, Michelangelo had become friends with an assistant in the workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio in Florence, where it is known that there is a copy print of St. Anthony, the masterly German named Martin Schongauer. Dissent was focused on it, if this painting was created by the hand of Michelangelo’s or if it was produced by other artists in the workshops. If confirmed as the work of Michelangelo’s lost, her embezzlement by Kimbell will përmblidhte a tremendous blow to the museum. Would make the painting “Torment of St. Anthony” one of four known paintings created by Michelangelo, both of which are in the “National Gallery” in London and the fourth in the “Uffizi” of Florence. Potentially, provides new data about how Michelangelo arrived sistemonte paletën of colors that was used in “Kapelën Sistine” Vatican. “This is a painting that will be studied for years to come,” said Eric Lee, director at the Kimbell. Pictures of St. Anthony describes cold face and white hair, being harassed by përbindëshat. It is based on gravurën of Schongauer it, but differs from it in several ways, begotten most experts now believe that its origin is vetëtuar. For example, among përbindëshave are images similar to the fish. A masterly early biographer wrote that Michelangelo has visited a fish market, while pikturonte work, so accurately portrayed on the scaly fish. Moreover, evidence that the incline of the interpretation of Michelangelo’s have been discovered in the last year, when pictures were restored to the “Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Layers of mud and papastërtive were removed to reveal the original colors of the oils, while modern technologies include skanimet infra red and X-ray revealed brendësinë, artist changes that were made during the implementation of the act. Interiors have convinced Lee to the board of the Kimbell and the pictures could not have been produced by a copy of the workshop, but must be original creation. “The Torment of St. Anthony” was purchased since 1905 by a British private koleksionues, which could keep him until last summer, when it was made by museum specialists to study. Works was sold by Sotheby’s for only two million dollars, a surprising transaction, whether it is Michelangelo’s – for a commercial art center in New York, who was convinced that was the work of masterly. Metropolitan Museum, as he finished the restoration, was also convinced, but had failed to find a value price, between the financial crisis this year.

Belongs III or IV century AD and was discovered in the waters of the Ionian north of Saranda. It is a relict archaeological composed of large amphoras, thought to come from North Africa and was discovered only two days earlier expeditions by the Albanian-American Archeology underwater, which has started the new season of research in Albanian waters. Coordinator of this project, Auron tare, not hesitant to call this a fantastic relict archaeological discovery, and adds that is guarded quite well. “The archaeologists thought that this relict archaeological site is probably the most beauty and most cautious sometimes found in the waters of the Mediterranean”, – says tare. After the excavation that will occur in the future, thought that the data obtained will bring new meaning on the contacts of residents of South Ilirisë with the Mediterranean cultures.

This discovery is the seventh in a list of important revelations do this joint expedition, which started 3 vëjet earlier collaboration as the foundation of American “RPM Nautical Foundation and Archeology navale branch of the Albanian Institute of Archeology Dr Co . Jeff by the American Royal and dr. Adrian Anastasi from the Albanian side.

This expedition is also detailed recent measurements of the sea, by establishing for the first time maps of underwater sea Albanian assets, giving the possibility of identifying the archaeological property.

High Technology “Multibeam” and use the bot in great depth, this expedition is using, and the results of its radhitin it in one of the three most important expeditions in the Mediterranean, according to experts of foreign Archeology navale. American and world media have devoted to the expedition a great attention because of its discoveries in Albania is open a new chapter in the revelations of Archeology underwater.

Albanian-American expedition will cooperate for the first time archaeologists with Montenegrin, doing research in the waters of Montenegro. In this way, for the first time there will be a collaboration of specialists Archeology navale to search the depths iliro-Dalmatian coast.

“The Coca Thunderer” in the end will return to Albania. After much media noise tratativash the head of the Thunderer Ascleptusit, stolen from Albania in 1991 could be placed again at the Museum of Butrinti. This return will be done through a formal ceremony on May 15, except where the present Albanian state authorities and representatives from the Ministry of Culture, will be two Albanian footballers Igli tare and Lorik Cana, who some time ago have paid Rome also bracket of 20 thousand Euros for the return of this statuesque.

Director of Cultural Heritage in the Ministry of Culture, Olsi Lafe claims court proceedings for the return of the head of the Thunderer in Albania are terminated immediately upon payment of the sum of 20 thousand Euros to Albanian footballers, which has procedures for Speed returns statujes helenistike in the country of origin.

Explaining the history of the theft of the head Ascleptusit, the ancient god of medicine, Lafe rrëfen that stolen from the museum Butrinti in 1991, the statue is shituar later, in 1996-en, at an auction in a regular home auctions an italian citizen in London.

This information is made only after dituar in Italy in the early years of cultural heritage in 2000 carabinieri arrived Seize this subject, which was published in the magazine and website as it was shown in an emission televised live. Thus carabinieri arrived to identify the magazine, to find the author of the article, who had carried photographs and then the holder object that had emerged in the magazine. In this way they managed to italian citizen, a collection known especially for koleksionistëve in the districts of Italy, who had bought the object in 1996 through a regular auction in London in about a 20 thousand Euro (the amount in pounds in the respective course then). But even though carabinieri began court proceedings against an Italian citizen in criminal court and court of Rome, the criminal court case against citizens ceased, as the result object is not stolen from him. Only civil court suspended the transfer of further building or change its ownership, blocking object in the house amabjentet an Italian citizen, with the obligation that the Albanian state to recognition of the natural right of ownership, while buyers in good faith under the legal terms statues belonged to an Italian citizen.

The issue reached the stage when italian citizen spoke publicly at our embassy in Rome he was willing to return the object the Republic of Albania, but against his payment in the amount paid from 20 thousand Euros according to the regular bill. Precisely at this moment the Albanian Embassy in Rome payment is made by footballers and tare Cana. “This payment is made for the return of a heritage building in the good of Albania and in their land. They went to pay volunteers to make a donation and to award it in the form of a check italian citizens, so that the transition becomes easier and faster but at Albania “, comments Lafe, not wishing to speak more to this point, why no payment was made earlier by the Ministry of Culture.

On the other hand, the chief cabinet MTKRS’s Flamur Shehu, explains that the payment of 20 thousand Euros made by two citizens and tare Cana will be done by the state, although against two footballers is not given any more in this lead. It is important that practically, head of the Thunderer “is owned 100 per cent in administration and now in defense of the Albanian state and will return to the Museum of Butrinti. “State Attorney’s Office has proposed that our Ministry is ready to complete procedures for finding the form of discolored as traded in 1996 and the statue to find the origin of this theft of our building heritage. This is a process separate from the return of the object in Albania and will continue for a whole other legal proceedings, which will be in the legal competence of the Ministry of Albania and advocate state, “concludes Lafe.

Short description …

Hellenic sculptures that holds the inventory number 60, has long curly hair, which completely cover the ears. The eyes have the shape of a bajameje and eyebrows are engraved very clearly. Eyebrows are fair and less dependent down, while the lips are closed completely. Whiskers are above and fill their distance from the lips NOSE, then hinge down by wobbly. Face is filled by a curly beard and the intense. Stolen in 1991 in Butrint, located in Italy. Is damaged in the forefront in the nose, and whiskers on the left of the beard.

Bibliography: Dh.Budina “Butrinti pararomak” Butroti, 1988, f.93, Tab.XII / 4.

THE ILLYRIANS ………
The origins of the Albanian people are not definitely known, but data drawn from history and from linguistic, archaeological, and anthropological studies have led to the conclusion that Albanians are the direct descendants of the ancient Illyrians and that the latter were natives of the lands they inhabited. Similarly, the Albanian language derives from the language of the Illyrians, the transition from Illyrian to Albanian apparently occurring between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. Illyrian culture is believed to have evolved from the Stone Age and to have manifested itself in the territory of Albania towardthe beginning of the Bronze Age, about 2000 BC. The Illyrians were not a uniform body of people but a conglomeration of many tribes that inhabited the western part of the Balkans, from what is now Slovenia in the northwest to (and including) the region of Epirus, which extends about halfway down the mainland of modern Greece. In general, Illyrians in the highlands ofAlbania were more isolated than those in the lowlands, and their culture evolved more slowly–a distinction that persisted throughout Albania’s history. In its beginning, the kingdom of Illyria comprised the actual territories of Dalmatia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, with a large part of modern Serbia. Shkodra (Scutari) was its capital, just as it is now, the most important center of Northern Albania. The earliest known king of Illyria was Hyllus (The Star) who is recorded to have died in the year 1225 B.C. The Kingdom, however, reached its zenith in the fourth century B.C. when Bardhylus (White Star), one of the most prominent of the Illyrian kings, united under scepter the kingdoms of Illyria, Molossia (Epirus*) and a good part of Macedonia. But its decay began under the same ruler as a result of the attacks made on it by Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great. In the year 232 B.C. the Illyrian throne was occupied by Teuta, the celebrated Queen whom historians have called Catherine the Great of Illyria. The depredations of her thriving navy on the rising commercial development of the Republic forced the Roman Senate to declare war against the Queen. A huge army and navy under the command of of Santumalus and Alvinus attacked Central Albania, and, after two years of protracted warfare, Teuta was induced for peace (227 B.C.) The last king of Illyria was Gentius, of pathetic memory. In 165 B.C. he was defeated by the Romans and brought to Rome as a captive. Henceforth, Illyria consisting of the Enkalayes, the Taulantes, the Epirotes, and the Ardianes, became a Roman dependency. She was carved out into three independent republics the capitals of which were respectively Scodar (Shkoder), Epidamnus (Durres) and Dulcigno (todays’ Ulqin in Montenegro). Authors of antiquity relate that the Illyrians were a sociable and hospitable people, renowned for their daring and bravery at war. Illyrian women were fairly equal in status to the men, even to the point of becoming heads of tribal federations. In matters of religion, Illyrians were pagans who believed in an afterlife and buried their dead along with arms and various articles intended for personal use. The land of Illyria was rich in minerals–iron, copper, gold, silver–and Illyrians became skillful in the mining and processing of metals. They were highly skilled boat builders and sailors as well; indeed, their light, swift galleys known as liburnae were of such superior design that the Romans incorporated them.

THE GREEKS……..
From the 8th to the 6th century BC the Greeks founded a string of colonies on Illyrian soil, two of the most prominent of which were Epidamnus (modern Durr?s) and Apollonia (near modern Vlor?). The presence of Greek colonies on their soil brought the Illyrians into contact with a more advanced civilization, which helped them to develop their own culture, while they in turn influenced the economic and political life of the colonies. In the 3rd century BC the colonies began to decline and eventually perished. Roughly parallel with the rise of Greek colonies, Illyrian tribes began to evolve politically from relatively small and simple entities into larger and more complex ones. At first they formed temporary alliances with one another for defensive or offensive purposes, then federations and, still later, kingdoms. The most important of these kingdoms, which flourished from the 5th to the 2nd century BC, were those of the Enkalayes, the Taulantes, the Epirotes, and the Ardianes. After warring for the better part of the 4th century BC against the expansionist Macedonian state of Philip II and Alexander the Great, the Illyrians faced a greater threat from the growing power of the Romans. Seeing Illyrian territory as a bridgehead for conquests east of the Adriatic, Rome in 229 BC attacked and defeated the Illyrians, led by Queen Teuta, and by 168 BC established effective control over Illyria.
THE ROMAN EMPIRE…..
The Romans ruled Illyria–which now became the province of Illyricum–for about six centuries. Under Roman rule Illyrian society underwent great change, especially in its outward, material aspect. Art and culture flourished, particularly in Apollonia, whose school of philosophy became celebrated in antiquity. To a great extent, though, the Illyrians resisted assimilation into Roman culture. Illyrian culture survived, along with the Illyrian tongue, though many Latin words entered the language and later became a part of the Albanian language. Christianity manifested itself in Illyria during Roman rule, about the middle of the 1st century AD. At first the new religion had to compete with Oriental cults–among them that of Mithra, Persian god of light–which had entered the land in the wake of Illyria’s growing interaction with eastern regions of the empire. For a long time it also had to compete with gods worshiped by Illyrian pagans. The steady growth of the Christian community in Dyrrhachium (the Roman name for Epidamnus) led to the creation there of a bishopric in AD 58. Later, episcopal seats were established in Apollonia, Buthrotum (modern Butrint), and Scodra (modern Shkodr?). By the time the empire began to decline, the Illyrians, profiting from a long tradition of martial habits and skills, had acquired great influence in the Roman military hierarchy. Indeed, several of them went on from there to become emperors. From the mid-3rd to the mid-4th century AD the reins of the empire were almost continuously in the hands of emperors of Illyrian origin: Gaius Decius, Claudius Gothicus, Aurelian, Probus, Diocletian, and Constantine the Great.
THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE…..
When the Roman Empire divided into east and west in 395, the territories of modern Albania became part of the Byzantine Empire. As in the Roman Empire, some Illyrians rose to positions of eminence in the new empire. Three of the emperors who shaped the early history of Byzantium (reigning from 491 to 565) were of Illyrian origin: Anastasius I, Justin I, and–the most celebrated of Byzantine emperors–Justinian I. In the first decades under Byzantine rule (until 461), Illyria suffered the devastation of raids by Visigoths, Huns, and Ostrogoths. Not long after these barbarian invaders swept through the Balkans, the Slavs appeared. Between the 6th and 8th centuries they settled in Illyrian territories and proceeded to assimilate Illyrian tribes in much of what is now Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia. The tribes of southern Illyria, however–including modern Albania–averted assimilation and preserved their native tongue. In the course of several centuries, under the impact of Roman, Byzantine, and Slavic cultures, the tribes of southern Illyria underwent a transformation, and a transition occurred from the old Illyrian population to a new Albanian one. As a consequence, from the 8th to the 11th century, the name Illyria gradually gave way to the name, first mentioned in the 2nd century AD by the geographer Ptolemy of Alexandria, of the Albanoi tribe, which inhabited what is now central Albania. From a single tribe the name spread to include the rest of the country as Arbri and, finally, Albania. The genesis of Albanian nationality apparently occurred at this time as the Albanian people became aware that they shared a common territory, name, language, and cultural heritage. (Scholars have not been able to determine the origin of Shqip?ria, the Albanians’ own name for their land, which is believed to have supplanted the name Albania during the 16th and 17th centuries. It probably was derived from shqipe, or “eagle,” which, modified into shqipria, became “the land of the eagle.”) Long before that event, Christianity had become the established religion in Albania, supplanting pagan polytheism and eclipsing for the most part the humanistic world outlook and institutions inherited from the Greek and Roman civilizations. But, though the country was in the fold of Byzantium, Albanian Christians remained under the jurisdiction of the Roman pope until 732. In that year the iconoclast Byzantine emperor Leo III, angered by Albanian archbishops because they had supported Rome in the Iconoclastic Controversy, detached the Albanian church from the Roman pope and placed it under the patriarch of Constantinople. When the Christian church split in 1054 between the East and Rome, southern Albania retained its tie to Constantinople while northern Albania reverted to the jurisdiction of Rome. This split in the Albanian church marked the first significant religious fragmentation of the country.
Medieval culture

In the latter part of the Middle Ages, Albanian urban society reached a high point of development. Foreign commerce flourished to such an extent that leading Albanian merchants had their own agencies in Venice, Ragusa (modern Dubrovnik, Croatia), and Thessalonica (now Thessaloniki, Greece). The prosperity of the cities also stimulated the development of education and the arts. Albanian, however, was not the language used in schools, churches, and official government transactions. Instead, Greek and Latin, which had the powerful support of the state and the church, were the official languages of culture and literature. The new administrative system of the themes, or military provinces created by the Byzantine Empire, contributed to the eventual rise of feudalism in Albania, as peasant soldiers who served military lords became serfs on their landed estates. Among the leading families of the Albanian feudal nobility were the Thopias, Balshas, Shpatas, Muzakas, Aranitis, Dukagjinis, and Kastriotis. The first three of these rose to become rulers of principalities that were practically independent of Byzantium.

One of the first written evidences of the use of the word ” Albanoi ” as the name of an Illyrian tribe in what is now north-central Albania goes back to the 130 A.D., in a work of Tolomeo. Albanopolis of the Albani, a place located on the map of Ptolemy (3.12.20) and also named on an ancient family epitaph at Scupi, which has been identified with the Zgërdhesh hill-fort near Kruja in northern Albania. Moreover, Arbanon is just likely to be the name of a district – the plain of the Mat has been suggested – rather than particular place. An indication of movement from higher altitudes in a much earlier period has been detected in the distribution of place-names ending in -esh that appears to derive from the latin -enisis or -esis, between the Shkumbin and the Mat, with a concentration between Elbasan and Kruja.

The term Albanoi may have been slowly spread to other Illyrian tribes until its usage became universal among all the Albanian people. According to the Albanian scholar Faïk bey Konitza, the term “Albania” did not displace “Illyria” completely until the end of the fourteenth century. The word “Alba” or “Arba” seems to be connected with the town Arba (modern Rab, Croatia), in prehistoric times inhabited by the Illyrian Liburnians, first mentioned in 360 BC. The root of the name comes from Illyrian Arb (”dark”, “green”, “wooded”) and is simply transposed into antique names of Arba, Arva, Arbia which are mentioned by the cartographers of the time.

The derivation of the name Albania is of considerable antiquity, dating back perhaps to the pre-Celtic alb (hill), from whence Alps, or possibly from the Indo-European albh (white), from whence albino and Albion. Approximately a millennium after, some Byzantine writers use the words “Albanon” and “Arbanon” to indicate the region of Kruja. Under the Angiò, in the XIII century, the names “Albania “and “Albanenses” indicate the whole country and all the population, as it is demonstrated by the works of many ancient Albanian writers such as Budi, Blanco and Bogdano. We first learn of Albanians in their native land as the Arbanites of Arbanon in Anna Comnenas‘ account (Alexiad 4) of the troubles in that region caused in the reign of her father Alexius I Comneus (1081- 1118) by the Normans. In ‘History’ written in 1079-1080, Byzantine historian Michael Attaliates was first to refer to the Albanoi as having taken part in a revolt against Constantinople in 1043 and to the Arbanitai as subjects of the duke of Dyrrachium. The Italo-Albanians and the Albanian minorities (still present in Greece) have been called in different ways with the passing of the years: Arbënuer, Arbënor, Arbëneshë, Arbreshë. There seems to be no doubt that the root Alb- or Arb- is earlier than Shqip-, from which the modern name of the state (Shqipëria) derives, a name which appears only in the time of the Turkish invasions. The Albanian name of the country, Shqipëria, translates into English as “Land of the Eagles”, hence the two-headed bird on the national flag and emblem, and because of the large presence of these animals in the mountainous zones of Albania.

The country jumped backwards to a historically remote stage of economic and social development. The normal process of Albanian culture, which kept pace with European humanism, was interrupted. The first consequence of invasion was the outflow of intellectual elite to the West. Among such elite, many personalities became renowned in the humanist world, as, for e.g., historian Marin Barleti (1460-1513) who in 1510 published in Rome a history of Scanderbeg, which was translated almost into all European languages, or Marin Beçikemi (1408-1526), Gj. Gazulli (1400-1455), L. Tomeu (1456-1531), M. Maruli (15th century), M. Artioti (1480-1556) and many others who were distinguished in various fields of science, art and philosophy.
The resistance in the cultural field was first of all expressed through the elaboration of the Albanian language in the area of church texts and publications, mainly of the Catholic confessional region in the North, but also of the Orthodox in the South.
The Protestant reform invigorated hopes for the development of the local language and literary tradition when priest Gj. Buzuku brought into the Albanian language the Catholic liturgy, trying to do for the Albanian what Luther did for the German language.
The “Missal” by Gj. Buzuku, published by him in 1555, is considered to date as the first work of written Albanian. The refined level of the language and the stabilised orthography must be a result of an earlier tradition of writing Albanian, a tradition that is not known. But there are some fragmented evidence, dating earlier than Buzuku, which indicate that Albanian was written at least since 14th century AD:
The first known evidence dates from 1332 AD and deals with the French Dominican Guglielm Adae, Archbishop of Tivar, who in a report in Latin writes that Albanians use Latin letters in their books although their language is quite different from Latin. Of special importance in supporting this are: a baptising formula (Unte paghesont premenit Atit et Birit et spertit senit) of 1462, written in Albanian within a text in Latin by the bishop of Durrës Pal Engjëlli; a glossary with Albanian words of 1497 by Arnold von Harf, a German who had travelled through Albania, and a 14th century fragment from the Bible according to Saint Mathew, also in Albanian, but in Greek letters.
Albanian writings of these centuries must not have been religious texts only, but historical chronicles too. They are mentioned by the humanist M. Barleti who, in his book “Rrethimi i Shkodrës” (The Siege of Shkodër) (1504), confirms that he has leafed through such chronicles written in the language of the vulgus (in vernacula lingua).
Despite the obstacles generated by the Counter-reform which was opposed to the development of national languages in Christian religious literature, this process went on uninterrupted. During the 16th to 17th centuries, the catechism “E mbësuame krishterë” (Christian Teachings) (1592) by L. Matrënga, “Doktrina e krishterë” (The Christian Doctrine) (1618) and “Rituale romanum” (1621) by P. Budi, the first writer of original Albanian prose and poetry, an apology for George Castriot (1636) by F. Bardhi, who also published a dictionary and folk-lore creations, the theological-philosophical treaty “Cuneus Prophetarum” (The Band of Prophets) (1685) by P. Bogdani, the most universal personality of Albanian Middle Ages, were published in Albanian.

The Bogdani’s work is a theological-philosophical treaty that considers with originality, by merging data from various sources, principal issues of theology, a full biblical history and the complicated problems of scholasticism, cosmogony, astronomy, pedagogy etc. Bogdani brought into Albanian culture the humanist spirit and praised the role of knowledge and culture in the life of man; with his written work in a language of polished style, he marked a turning point in the history of Albanian literature.
During 18th century, the literature of Orthodox and Muslim confessional cultural circles witnessed a greater development. An anonymous from Elbasan brings into Albanian language a number of sections from the Bible; T. H. Filipi, also from Elbasan, brings the “Dhiata e Vjetër dhe e Re” (The Old and the New Testament). These efforts multiplied in the following century with the publication in 1827 of the integral text of the “Dhiata e Re” (The New Testament) by G. Gjirokastriti and with the big corpus of (Christian) religious translations by K. Kristoforidhi (1830-1895), in both dialects of the Albanian, publications which helped in the process of integrating the two dialects into a unified literary language and in setting up the basis for the establishment of the national church of the Albanians with the liturgy in their own language.

Although in opposite direction with this tendency, the culture of Voskopoja is also to be mentioned, a culture that during the 17th century became a great hearth of civilisation and a metropolis of the Balkan peninsula, with an Academy and a printing press and with personalities like T. Kavaljoti, Dh. Haxhiu, G. Voskopojari, whose works of knowledge, philology, theology and philosophy assisted objectively in the writing and recognition of the Albanian.
Although the literature that evolved in Voskopoja was mainly in the Greek language, the need to erect obstacles to Islamisation made necessary the use of national languages, encouraging the development of national cultures. Walachian and Albanian were also used for the teaching of Greek in the schools of Voskopoja, and books in Walachian were also printed in its printing presses.
The works of Voskopoja writers and savants have brought in some elements of the ideas of European Enlightenment. The most distinguished of them, Teodor Kavaljoti, is an erudite of the time. According to the notes of the German albanolog H.E. Thunman, the work of Kavaljoti, which remained unpublished, in most part deals with issues from almost all branches of philosophy. It shows the influence of Plato, Des Cartes, Malebranche and Leibnitz.

A result of the influence of Islam and the culture of the invader was the emergence, during 18th century, of a school of poetry, or of a literature written in Albanian but in the Arab alphabet. Its authors such as N. Frakulla, M. Kyçyku, S. Naibi, H.Z. Kamberi, Sh. and D. Frashëri, Sheh Mala, and others dealt in their works with motifs borrowed from Oriental literature, wrote religious texts and poetry in a language suffocated by orientalisms and developed religious lyric and epic. This school did not have a long life or any specific influence on the later literary developments.
In order to complete the framework of cultural developments of Albania during 17th and 18th centuries, it should be mentioned that local authors produced distinguished works in the field of architecture and iconic painting. Distinguished names were Onufri and his son Nikolla (16th century) and K. Shpataraku and D. Selenica (18th century) who carried on the tradition of the post-Byzantine religious art, but not without influence from the European Renaissance. Most religious buildings may be mentioned regarding the Islamic art.

The 19th century, the century of national movements in the Balkans, found Albanians without a sufficient tradition of a unitary development of the state, language and culture but, instead, with an individualistic and regionalist mentality inherited from the psychology of clan and kinship and consequently with an underdeveloped national conscience, though with a spirit of spontaneous rebellion. In this historical cultural situation, an organised mental and literary movement, which was called the Albanian National Renaissance, started to emerge. It was inspired by the ideas of national Romanticism and Enlightenment, which were cultivated among the circles of Albanian intelligentsia, mainly émigrés in the old Albanian settlements in Italy and the more recent ones in Istanbul, Bucharest, USA, Sophia and Cairo.
National Renaissance, nurturing the Albanian as a language of culture, the organisation of national education and the establishment of a national literature on the cultural level as well as the creation of the independent state – these were the goals of this movement which gave birth to the school of Albanian Romanticism. It was a typical Balkan Romanticism, imbued with the spirit of national liberation, with the nostalgia of the émigré and the rhetorical pathos of evoking the Albanian Middle Ages, that is, the wars of George Castriot. This literary school developed the poetry most. Regarding the motifs and poetical forms, its hero was the ethical man, the fighting Albanian, and to a lesser degree the tragic man. It is closely linked with the folklore tradition. The pursuit of this tradition and the publications of “Rapsodi të një poeme arbëreshe” (Rhapsody of an Arbëresh Poem) in 1866 by De Rada, of “Përmbledhje të këngëve popullore dhe rapsodi të poemave shqiptare” (Collection of Albanian Folk Songs and Rhapsodies of Albanian Poems) in 1871 by Z. Jubani, “Bleta shqiptare” (Albanian Bee) in 1878 by Th. Mitko, etc., were part of the cultural programme of the National Renaissance for establishing the ethnic and cultural identity of Albanians.
Two are the greatest representatives of Albanian Romanticism of 19th century: J. De Rada (1814-1903), born and dead in the Albanian Diaspora in Italy and educated there, and N. Frashëri (1846-1900), born in Albania, educated at Zosimea of Ioannina, but emigrated and deceased in Istanbul. The first is the Albanian romantic poet brought up in the climate of European Romanticism, the second is the Albanian romanticist who merges in his poetry the influence of Eastern poetry, especially Persian, with the spirit of the poetry of Western Romanticism.

De Rada wrote a cycle of epical-lyrical poems in the style of Albanian rhapsodies: “Këngët e Milosaos”(The Songs of Milosao), 1836, “Serafina Topia” 1839, “Skënderbeu i pafat” (Unlucky Scanderbeg) 1872-1874 etc. with the ambition of creating the national epos for the century of Scanderbeg.
Following the traces of Herder, De Rada raised the love for folk songs in his poetry and painted it in ethnographic colours. His works reflect both the Albanian life with its characteristic customs and mentalities, and the Albanian drama of the 15th century, when this land’s indomitable folk fell to the Ottoman yoke. The conflict between the happiness of the individual and the tragedy of the nation, the scenes by the riversides, women gathering wheat in the fields, the man going to war and the wife embroidering his belt, all represented with a delicate lyrical feeling – this is the poetry of this romantic poet who grew up in the political climate of the national movement of Albanians and in the literary climate of Calabrian Romanticism.

Naim Frashëri wrote a pastoral poem “Bagëti e bujqësia” (Shepherds and Farmers) (1886), a collection of philosophical, patriotic and love lyrics “Lulet e verës” (Summer Flowers), (1890), an epical poem on Scanderbeg “Histori e Skënderbeut” (The History of Scanderbeg) (1898), a religious epical poem “Qerbelaja” (1898), two poems in Greek “O Eros” (i.e.O Love) and “O alithis pothos ton skipetaron” (i.e. The True Desire of Albanians), a bunch of lyrics in Persian “Tehajylat” (The Dream) and many erudite works in Albanian. He is recognised as the greatest national poet of Albanians.
Naim Frashëri established modern lyrics in Albanian poetry. In the spirit of “Bucolics” and “Georgics” of Vergil, in his “Bagëti e bujqësia” (Shepherds and Farmers) he sang to the works of the land tiller and shepherd by writing a hymn to the beauties of his fatherland and expressing the nostalgia of the émigré poet and the pride of being Albanian. It is not surprising that though living in the heart of the Ottoman Empire, in Istanbul, he felt so deeply about the fate of his fatherland. The longing for his birthplace, the mountains and fields of Albania, the graves of his ancestors, the memories of his childhood, feed his inspiration with lyrical strength and impulse.
The inner experiences of the individual freed from the chains of medieval, Oriental mentality on one hand and the philosophical pantheism of the Sufi doctrine, imbued with the poetical pantheism of the European Romanticism on the other hand, give to the lyrical meditations of Frashëri a universal human and philosophical dimension. The most beautiful poems of “Lulet e verës” (Summer Flowers) collection are the philosophical lyrics on life and death, on time that goes by and never comes back leaving behind tormenting memories in the heart of man, on the Creator melt with the Universe.

Spiritual by nature and a member of the Bektashi sect, Frashëri is a metaphysical poet, one who fused his lyrical meditations, Hellenistic mystique with ancient, Oriental and Islamic mystique. Being in the crossroads of Eastern and Western philosophical and poetical traditions, N. Frashëri blends them with each other, but without suppressing his Albanian nature. The Western culture and civilisation determined the illuminist underlay of the work of Frashëri, Eastern civilisation its philosophical-mystical underlay, while the Albanian world the backbone of his work. But one should single out the French spirit in his work as well. The French spirit in Greece and Turkey was a representative of the European culture. It found a hotbed in the Balkan countries like Albania, because it brought to the people of the peninsula the ideas of the French uprising and generally the idea of freedom and modern nationalism. Knowing the French language and being an admirer of Voltaire and Rousseau as a thinker and of Lamartine as a poet, Frashëri envisaged the future of his nation “to rise from the side of the sunset”. The romanticism of Naim in this point does not differ from the Greek or Turkish Romanticism, they are all offspring of France.
Naim Frashëri is the founder of the national literature of the Albanians and of the national literary language. He raised Albanian to a modern language of culture, evolving it in the model of the popular Albanian speech.
The inner world of the romantic hero with its vehement feelings is brought to Albanian Romanticism by the poetry of Z. Serembe. The poetry of N. Mjeda and A. Z. Çajupi, who lived at the end of Renaissance, bears the signs of disintegration of the artistic system of Romanticism in Albanian literature.

A.Z Çajupi (1866-1930), is a rustic poet, the type of a folk bard, called the Mistral of Albania; he brought to Albanian literature the comedy of customs and the tragedy of historical themes. Graduated from a French college in Alexandria and the Geneva University, a good connoisseur of French literature, A.Z. Çajupi was among the first to bring into Albanian language La Fountaine’s fables, thus opening the way to the translation and adoption of works of world literature into Albanian, which has been and remains one of the major ways of communication of Albanians with the world culture.
With the establishment of the Albanian state (1912), the romantic school, born from the ground of the national movement, lost its historical base; the national idea gives way to the human one and new tendencies and styles appear in the development of Albanian literature.
The main direction taken by the Albanian literature between the two World Wars was realism, but it also bore either any aspects of a belated sentimentalism (F. Postoli), or remnants of romanticism.

Gjergj Fishta (1871-1940), wrote a poem of national epos breadth “Lahuta e malësisë” (The Lute of the Highlands) in which, in a romanticising spirit and a high patriotic pathos, he depicts the struggles of Northern mountaineers against Slav onslaughts.
With this work he remains the greatest epical poet of Albanians. A Franciscan priest, erudite and a member of the Italian Academy, Gjergj Fishta is a multifaceted personality of Albanian culture: epical and lyrical poet, publicist and satirist, dramatist and translator, active participant in the Albanian cultural and political life between the two Wars.
His major work, “Lahuta e malësisë” (The Lute of the Highlands) with 17.000 verses, written in the spirit of Albanian historical and legendary epos, is a reflection of the Albanian life and mentality, a poetical mosaic of historic and legendary exploits, traditions and customs of the highlands, a live fresco of the history of an old people, which places on its centre the type of Albanian carved in the Calvary of his life along the stream of centuries which had been savage to him. Fishta’s poem is distinguished by its vast linguistic wealth, is a receptacle for the richness of the popular speech of the highlands, the live and infinite phraseology and the diversity of clear syntax constructions, which give vitality and strength to the poetic expression.
The poetical collections “Mrizi i Zanave” (The Fairies’ Mead) with patriotic verse and “Vallja e Parrizit” (Paris’s Dance) with verses of a religious spirit, represent Fishta as a refined lyrical poet, while his other works “Anzat e Parnasit” (Parnassus’ Anises) and “Gomari i Babatasit” (Babatas’ Donkey) represent him as an unrepeatable satirical poet. In the field of drama, “Juda Makabe” and “Ifigjenia n’ Aulli” may be mentioned along his tragedies with a biblical and ancient mythology themes.
Albanian literature between the two Wars did not lack manifestations of sentimentalism (F. Postoli, M. Grameno) and of belated classicism, especially in drama (E. Haxhiademi). Manifestations of the modern trends, impressionism, symbolism etc. were isolated phenomena in the works of some writers (Migjeni, Poradeci, and Asdreni), that did not succeed in forming a school. Deep changes were seen in the system of genres; prose (Migjeni, F. S. Noli, F. Konica, E. Koliqi, M. Kuteli, etc.) drama and satire (Gj. Fishta, K. Floqi) developed parallel to poetry.

The typical representative of realism was Millosh Gjergj Nikolla, Migjeni (1913-1938). His poetry “Vargjet e lira” (Free Verse), 1936, and prose are permeated by a severe social realism on the misery and tragic position of the individual in the society of the time. The characters of his works are people from the lowest strata of Albanian society.
Some of Migjeni’s stories are novels in miniature; their themes represent the conflict of the individual with institutions and the patriarchal and conservative morality. The rebellious nature of Migjeni’s talent broke the traditionalism of Albanian poetry and prose by bringing a new style and forms in poetry and narrative. He is one of the greatest reformers of Albanian literature, the first great modern Albanian writer.

L. Poradeci (1899-1987), a poetical talent of a different nature, a brilliant lyrical poet, wrote a soft and warm poetry, but with a deep thinking and a charming musicality “Vallja e yjeve” (The Dance of Stars), 1933, “Ylli i zemrës” (The Star of Heart) 1937.
F. S. Noli (1882-1965) F.S. Noli is one of the most versatile figures — he was a distinguished Poet, historian, dramatist, aesthete and musicologist, publicist, translator and master of the Albanian language, on top of being a statesman and diplomat, he is the genius of Albanian culture of the 20th century.
Born in Qytezë, in Edrene region, he did odd jobs in his youth to earn a living; he wrote the plays “The Awakening” and “Israelites and Philistines”; he published articles and translated in Greek S. Frashëri’s work “Albania — her Past, Present and Future”. In 1906 he went to the U.S.A where he played a role in bringing together the Albanian societies in the “Vatra” federation and two years later he was ordained priest. He intended to found the Albanian Church as independent from the Greek Church. He supported the activity of the armed bands and uprisings of 1910 to 1912.
After the proclamation of Independence, Noli returned to Albania in 1913 and offered his contribution to the national government of Vlorë. During the period of 1920-1924 he expressed his views about how the Albanian State should be organized and implementing an internal and foreign policy based on the principles of Western democracy. It’s for these views that he became the leader of Albanian opposition. From 1920 to 1924 he was the leader of the Albanian opposition in parliament and after the June Revolution he became the head of the Democratic government. After the failure of the Revolution he immigrated to Europe where he was acquainted with the Communist ideas as well. There he made a self-critical assessment of his actions up to that time. These years’ experience wad embodied in a series of creations of a high artistic level

In 1908 he was ordained a priest, initiating the idea of an autocephalous Albanian Orthodox Church, which he established in 1922. After moving around in Europe as a political émigré, in 1932 he settled for good in the USA, where he died.
The experience of the defeated 1924 revolution inspired him for a cycle of lyrics with biblical motifs, included in the book “Album”. In 1907 he had published the drama, again with a biblical theme, “Izraelitë dhe filistinë” (Israelites and Philistines), trying to bring to his time the biblical legend in an analogy with his own experience as a spiritual leader of the movement for national and social liberation of Albanians. In 1947 he published in English the study “Beethoven and the French Revolution”. He translated into Albanian many liturgical books and works of world class writers such as O. Khayyam, W. Shakespeare, H. Ibsen, M. de Cervantes and others. With his poetry, non-fiction, scientific and religious prose, as well as with his translations, F.S. Noli has played a fundamental role in the development of the modern Albanian.
Distinguished writers of short prose were E. Koliqi (1903-1975), M. Kuteli (1907-1967) and F. Konica (1875-1942). The first one wrote subtle prose, full of colouring from his town of Shkodër, (“Tregtar flamujsh”, (Trader of Flags), 1935, the second is a magician of the Albanian language, the writer that cultivated the folk style of narration into a charming prose, “Net shqiptare” (Albanian Nights) 1938; “Ago Jakupi” 1943; “Kapllan aga i Shaban Shpatës” (Kapllan Aga of Shaban Shpata), 1944.

F. Konica is the master who gave Albanian prose a modern image, the intellectual that brought the proper Western mentality to Albanian culture. He was born in Konica, a small Albanian town, which following the decisions of the London Conference of 1913 that shrank the Albanian state to the present borders, remained with Greece. He came from a renowned family, inheriting the title of Bey and the conscience of belonging to an elite, which he manifested strongly in his life and work, but he did not inherit the Oriental backward mentality which he discarded with a joking smile that he translated into a cutting sarcasm in his work.
He attended for one year the Jesuit college of Shkodër, then the Imperial Lyceum in Istanbul, studied literature and philosophy at Dijon University, France, and completed his higher studies at Harvard University, where, in 1912, got a Master’s degree (Master of Arts) from that University. Erudite, knowledgeable in all major European languages and some Eastern ones, a friend of G. Apollinaire, called by foreigners “a walking encyclopaedia”, F. Konica became the model of Western intellectual for the Albanian culture. Since his youth he was dedicated to the national movement, but contrary to the mythical, idealising and romanticising feeling of the Renaissance, he brought in it the spirit of criticism and experienced the perennial pain of the idealist who suffers for his own thoughts.
He established the “Albania” magazine (Brussels 1897-1900, London 1902-1909), that became the most important Albanian press organ of the Renaissance. Publicist, essayist, poet, prose writer, translator and literary critic, he, among others, is the author of the studies “L’Albanie et les turcs” (Paris 1895), “Memoire sur le mouvement national albanais (Brussels, 1899), of novels “Një ambasadë e Zulluve në Paris” (An Embassy of the Zulu in Paris) (1922) and “Doktor Gjilpëra” (Doctor the Needle) (1924), as well as of the historical-cultural work “Albania — the Rock Garden of South-Eastern Europe” published posthumously in Massachusetts in 1597. The two novels of Konica share the satirical spirit and the allegoric expression of the conflict between knowledge and ignorance, between the backward Oriental mentality and modern Western mentality. Both his non-fiction writings and fiction prose are a model of the elaborated literary Albanian and of an elegant style.
He spent the last years of his life (1926-1939) as the ambassador of the Albanian Kingdom to Washington, where he died in 1942. His remains were brought to Albania recently.

The literature of the Albanians of Italy in the period between the two Wars continued the tradition of the romanticist school of the 19th century. Z. Skiro (1865-1927) through his work “Kthimi” (Return), 1913, “Te dheu i huaj” (In Foreign Soil), 1940, wanted to recover the historical memory of Albanians emigrated since the 15th century after the death of Scanderbeg.
During the Antifascist Struggle of the Albanian people (1939-1944), a literature of resistance developed. It was born underground through the press of the Communist Party of Albania. The products of this literature were mainly non-fiction writings, literary sketches and texts of partisan songs. Its authors were antifascist fighters of the youngest generation (Sh. Musaraj, A. Çaçi, F. Gjata, K. Jakova, Q. Buxheli).

After World War II, Albanian literature witnessed a massive development. The main feature of literature and arts of this period was their ideologically oriented development and the elaboration of all genres, especially of novel, which despite of the lack of any tradition came to the lead of the literary process.
The most elaborate type of novel was the novel of socialist realism of ethical and historical character, with a linear subject matter (J. Xoxa, S. Spasse), but novels with a rugged composition, open poetics and a philosophical substratum issuing from association of ideas and historical analogies (I. Kadare, P. Marko) as well as the satirical novel are not lacking (D. Agolli, Q. Buxheli).
The short story and novel were developed by Dh. Shuteriqi, N. Prifti, Z. Çela, T. Laço, Dh. Xhuvani, N. Lera and others, and poetry by I. Kadare, D. Agolli, F. Arapi, Xh. Spahiu, M. Ahmeti and others.
Drama (K. Jakova, “Toka jonë”) (Our land), 1955, and comedy (S. Çomora, “Karnavalet e Korçës”) (The Carnival of Korça), 1961, developed to a lesser degree.
The literature of this period developed within the framework of socialist realism, the only direction allowed by official policy. But beyond this framework, powerful talents created works with an implicit feeling of opposition and with universal significance.
The disidend trend in literature was expressed in different forms in the works of K.Trebeshina, M.Myftiu, I Kadare, D. Agolli, M. Jero, K. Kosta, etj, who either tried to break out the canons of the socialist realism method or introduced heretic ideas for the comunist dictatorship ideology.

I. Kadare (born in 1936), with the poem (“Përse mendohen këto male” (What Are These Mountains Musing On?) 1964, “Motive me diell” (Sunny Motifs) 1968, “Koha” (Time) 1976, and especially with his prose (“Gjenerali i ushtrisë së vdekur” (The General of The Dead Army) 1963, “Kështjella” (The Castle) 1970, “Kronikë në gur” (Chronicle in Stone) 1971, “Dimri i madh“ (The Great Winter) 1977, “Ura me tri harqe” (The Three-Arched Bridge) 1978, “Piramida” (The Pyramid) 1992; “Spiritus” 1996 etc., defied the limitations of the time and revived Albanian literature with forms and motifs which integrate it into the modern streams of world literature.
The work of Kadare represents an artistic encyclopaedia of Albanian life, a broad fresco of historical and contemporary events, experienced with a philosophical attitude, sometimes expressed openly and at other times in Aesop’s speech. The philosophy, beliefs, dramas and historical and cultural traditions of Albanians, filtered through the artistic thinking of the writer are represented in Kadare’s work as an expression of the national identity and the vitality of the spiritual culture of his own people and as a factor in the people’s historical resistance and survival.
Kadare creates a modern prose making wide use of historical analogies, parables and associations, national legends and mythology. His work has an open poetics, which emanates from the intertwining of times, levels of artistic speech and the real with the unreal, and from the uneven mosaic nature of composition.
Kadare’s work brings to European literature a characteristic Mediterranean, Balkan, flavour, and enriches it with the coloration of an area typical for its ethno-cultural distinctness. Starting from the epical world of medieval legends and ballads, the prose of Kadare overcomes time distance and brings to resonance the medieval artistic conscience and mentality with those of our time.
The message of Kadare’s prose and poetry simultaneously gains historical depth and a universal humane note through a deep creative elaboration of the richness of ancient folk traditions.
Kadare, a writer with a strong critical conscience, has not only raised to poetry the spiritual values of his nation, but has also castigated outdated traditions, oldish mentalities, provincial psychology and backward life conventions of Albanian society.
Through its spirit of dissidence in the conditions of dictatorship when it was made, Kadare’s work has helped to erode the foundations of the totalitarian regime in Albania. His political exile to France in 1990, at a time when democratic processes had just started in Albania, gave an impulse to these processes. It is for these values that Kadare’s work enjoys wide popularity and has been translated in all of the major languages (English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Italian, Arabic, etc.). Kadare has been praised by foreign critique as one of the most distinguished contemporary writers of the world literature and has won several international awards. Kadare is currently the most eminent representative of Albanian culture in the world.

A fine lyrical poet and satirical writer, D. Agolli (1931) has brought in Albanian poetry the freshness of a spontaneous meditative inspiration, and in Albanian novel the subtle popular humour which stretches to the grotesque “Shkëlqimi dhe rënia e shokut Zylo” (The Shine and Fall of Comrade Zylo) 1973, “Arka e djallit” (Devil’s Arc) 1997). He is a master of the psychological, philosophical short story (“Zhurma e erërave të dikurshme” (The Noise of Remote Winds) 1964, “Njerëz të krisur” (Crazy People) 1995.
Agolli’s most important collections of poems include “Shtigje malesh dhe trotuare” (Mountain Paths and Sidewalks) 1965, “Fjala gdhend gurin” (Word Carves the Stone) 1977, “Udhëtoj i menduar” (Walking Deep in Thoughts) 1985, and “Lypësi i kohës” (Beggar of the Time) 1995.

D.Agolli was born in a village of southeastern Albania and at a very young age participated in the Antifascist Resistance. The close connection with the life of the people and the antifascist ideals determined the content of his work. A feature of Agolli’s novels on the resistance is the updating of its moral values through an artistic synchronisation of war events with present-day ones. The work of Agollli has become very popular; it is translated in several languages and has been appraised by foreign critique.
Albanian literature in Albanian lands in Kosova and Western Macedonia as represented by many names (E. Mekuli, A. Pashku, A. Podrimja, R. Kelmendi, R. Qosja, D. Mehmeti, M. Isaku etc.), although developed in a different political and cultural context, even after World War II maintained links with the mother culture and brought into art the national and human dramas and ravages of the individuals in those lands. There has not been any proper literary movement in the Albanian Diaspora in Europe after World War II. The only important author of that Diaspora is M. Camaj (1925-1992). In his poetry and prose he tries to uncover the identity roots of the Albanian émigré.

The most important result in the post-war Albanian culture in terms of the language development is the unification of the standard Albanian, elaborated to the level of a modern language.
In the current stage of transition of post-Communist society, Albanian literature is experiencing the advantages of its opening to the world, but also the problems that are faced in such conditions by the culture of any nation to preserve its own identity.

Bibliography:
1. Historia e letërsisë shqipe I, II (History of Albanian Literature) (Published by the Institute of History and Linguistics of Tirana University, Tirana, 1960.
2. Historia e letërsisë shqiptare (History of Albanian literature) (Published by the Academy of Sciences), Tirana, 1983.
3. E. Çabej. Shqiptarët midis Perëndimit dhe Lindjes (Albanians between the West and the East), Tirana, 1994

In one of the forbidden shores of Europe, in a pinch in the Ionian Sea, was discovered with treasures slowly, which turn us 2500 years later, after the vessels were found suffocated to old times. About two years ago, an American research ship and Albanian experts have searched the waters south of Albania palm for palm, using equipment such as scanners and other sophisticated equipment to detect wreck of the old. This was the first archaeological research in Albanian waters of the sea, and eventually was lokalizuan five areas where research can be conducted and other archaeological discoveries. After those searches that were conducted first by an American archeologist, Geffrey G. Royal said that “Albania is a source for unquestionable arkeologjinë. With these we managed to discover so far, I can say with certainty that Albania is many times more rich than Greece and Italy. ”
Recent Searches
With recent research found traces of the Greek ships, which date back between 3 and 6 centuries before Christ, while three other countries are still at the stage of verification. While in 2007 were found more traces of the ancient ships wrecked in the waters of our country. After these searches, archaeologists have concluded that Albania has been a very important link for trade of other countries, as our waters serving for transportation of goods by boat in antiquity. Here we can mention Greece, Italy, North Africa, the western Mediterranean, etc.. Auron to tare, coordinators of the Albanian waters, said that “a true treasure found in the waters of our country”, which was discovered during the last six months of last year. Furthermore archaeologists have claimed that was the first time found an ancient ship of such a type and so ancient. This became possible in the waters of the Ionian sea to Albania. In this ancient ship found things indefinitely, which date back many centuries in early, before Christ, centuries respectively 2, 3 and 1. Furthermore, it is claimed that there have been even more ancient clues that are not dated yet and are also found snippet rig or anchor ships, which inform much deeper than can be found on other ancient ships, perhaps even more early constituting a most precious treasure for our country and the history of the entire continent of Europe.