– Y.S. Bains, Ph.D. –
Enver Hoxha’s “name is linked with our whole contemporary history,” Ramiz Alia stresses in his memoirs, Our Enver. “Men such as he emerge from revolutions and belong as much to the future as to the time in which they live.” This is why “everything related to Enver is dear and precious to us,” he remarks.
The Albanians decided to erect the Museum in Tirana soon after his death on April 11, 1985. A team of architects, which included Klement Kolaneci, Pranvera Hoxha, Pirro Vaso and Vladimir Bragu, based their design of the building on a combination of the national symbols of the eagle and the star. The rays of the star coming to the ground from the top make the wings of the eagle in the front half of the structure. The blocks of white marble alternate with glass panels to form an aesthetically pleasing pattern. Kristaq Rama and Thoma Thomai, two People’s Artists, created the sculpture of Enver Hoxha sitting in a chair in the centre of the hall under the star and a brass-plated aluminium chandelier. Spiro Dede and a group of interior designers had planned and arranged the central hall and the surrounding pavilions to underline the role of the individual in history without exaggerating or underestimating it. This is a major museum of international significance which commemorates Enver Hoxha’s life and the country’s building of a society without exploitation and oppression.
When visitors enter the building through red glass doors, they stand in front of the monument in a circular hall which strikes them by its solemn centre and the gay pavilions of exhibits along the walls. A geometric-shaped cluster of lights casts a warm glow over the entire interior and provides an intimate environment for the appreciation of the photographs, documents and objects which comprise the Museum’s immense collection. People come there to refresh their recollections of the leader they knew so well, to replenish their memories with the national and international events of the century, and to reinforce their ideals and aspirations for the future. The Museum projects evidence of the many talents of Enver Hoxha in organizing resistance to foreign and local oppressors and illustrates the zigzags of constructing socialism in one country; it also presents different aspects of Enver Hoxha’s personality as a political agitator, as a military strategist, as a historian and philosopher, as an economic planner, and as a devoted family member and friend.
The Museum displays its treasures in pavilions divided over three levels or ramps (the fourth level is reserved for storage and preservation of objects). At the first or ground level is a review of events from Enver Hoxha’s birth in Gjirokastra on October 16, 1908, to the liberation of the Homeland on November 29, 1944. At the next level can be found a panorama of socialist construction from 1945 to 1985. The third level contains the mementoes of the leader’s death and tributes of the international community.
The first exhibit, to the left of the entrance door, is a plaster model of Gjirokastra, followed by a replica of the room in which Enver Hoxha was born. The room is furnished in traditional style with carpets and reclining pillows and has a fireplace. On the wall are pictures of Enver Hoxha’s parents and his elder brother. In the next pavilion appears a photographic mural of Korça and photographs of the places in France and Belgium where he received his school and university education. There is a copy of The Communist Manifesto he got as a present from Koci Bako in 1927 and a watch in 1936 from Ali Kelmendi, the Albanian communist leader. In the late 1930s, Enver Hoxha worked in the “Flora” Shop where he held secret meetings with fellow nationalists. Three folding chairs and a folding table represent those illegal gatherings.
Directly behind the Enver Hoxha monument is the pavilion which pertains to the founding of the Communist Party of Albania on November 8, 1941. The three tables and fifteen chairs lie in the house where the founding took place, and the Museum has their copies. Other display cases show documents and objects related to the creation of the Communist Youth Union on November 23 of the same year. A picture of Enver Hoxha’s bust lies prominently on a giant plastic-mould star with the letters “PKSH” (acronym of the Communist Party of Albania, Albanian in the original) next to it.
Enver Hoxha and the Party formed the National Liberation Front and held the Conference of Peza to unite the whole nation against the Italian fascists and German nazis. Apart from murals and other scenes of this heroic battle, the Museum presents a varied collection of Enver Hoxha’s personal clothes and other items — his shirt, his false identity cards, a rifle, a woollen vest, a Fiat Milicento car, his revolver, his shoes and a mountain cap — reflecting a daily participation in the planning and execution of their army tactics. Also fascinating are the pictures of the country being liberated, Enver Hoxha’s orders forbidding the landing of Anglo-American troops on Albanian soil, and models of the table and chair used by the leader in Berat during meetings of the Provisional Government.
Walking up the stairs to the second level, visitors admire an eagle, their national symbol, in the middle of a giant plastic-mould flag in white, which signifies the liberated Albania. Photographs of Enver Hoxha in the first months of 1945 and a short biography on a single sheet of paper introduce the new leader taking command of the government. He issued an order granting land to poor peasants. He took part in the completion of such projects as the railway line connecting Durrës to Tirana and the draining of swamp lands. Of special interest here are a pen and a seal he used as the country’s first Prime Minister.
Some of the pictures present glimpses of his private life and public scenes of his life among workers, peasants and intellectuals. A cup and saucer for Turkish coffee, an ashtray, a camera, a metal-top side table, a sofa chair, a pair of glasses, a cigarette case and lighter, walking shoes and a cane — these are some of the items which engage the person’s eye. There are pictures of Enver Hoxha in the Soviet Union and with Joseph Stalin.
Behind the plastic flag is a display of the documents and objects related to Enver Hoxha’s struggle against the Titoites and against Nikita Khrushchev and revisionism and his speeches in Moscow and other cities. One can examine his diplomatic passport, a cigarette case presented to him by V.M. Molotov, invitation cards from various communist parties, a coat and cap worn by him in Moscow in 1959, a leather case for papers, and manuscript pages from his book, The Khrushchevites.
Prominent among pictures of personal routine are those of hunting, fishing and gardening in his summer home. His radio is there and a deck of cards; so are his sweater, a cap, a table and table cloth, a rattan chair, a cane, a pair of glasses, a pen and a notebook. The museum depicts his many public activities, showing his role in the building of agriculture, industry, educational institutions, the University of Tirana which now bears his name, institutes of higher learning, the Academy of Sciences, sports facilities, and museums and galleries. Enver Hoxha’s reports to the Congresses of the Party of Labour of Albania show the stages in the construction of the economy and culture. On various video cassettes a visitor can see Enver Hoxha addressing Party Congresses, studying in his library in the house, working in his office in the building of the Central Committee, receiving friends and well-wishers in his living room, and presiding over meetings of the Party in his house. Some of the unforgettable items are his table and chair from his Central Committee quarters, as he left them on April 8, 1985, the last day he attended his office, with his telephone and calendar.
The third level of the exhibition area is emotionally the most charged one for every Albanian and foreigner because it represents people’s tributes to him. Organizations of workers, peasants and the intelligentsia and Albanians from abroad presented him gifts and other tokens of their affection; people wrote letters and postcards to him and received answers. One of the enterprises sent him a model, in silver, of the house in which the Party was founded. In the middle of this floor, in a vertical line from the monument, lies the flag-draped gun carriage, which brought his body to the Cemetery of the Martyrs of the Nation, twenty-six national flags representing the districts of the country, medals awarded to him by the People’s Assembly and other state bodies, a laurel crown and ribbons from the funeral, Ramiz Alia delivering his memorial speech, letters of condolences and articles in foreign papers, a message of condolences from the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), copies of foreign-language imprints of his books and articles, texts of songs and verses about him, books and articles about him by Ramiz Alia and other Albanians, and pictures of the 9th Congress of the Party of Labour of Albania which pledged its allegiance to the policies evolved and advocated by Enver Hoxha. A red photographic mural of the national flag, with Enver Hoxha’s head surrounded by the people, reflects his place in the country. The last item of the exhibition is a statement, “It will only be birthdays for Enver Hoxha,” meaning that he will live forever.
In the circular basement of the building is a library which possesses a complete collection of Enver Hoxha’s documents and writings in manuscripts and in print and a collection of his photographs (the earliest photograph comes from July 1921). Readers will find here a computerized subject index to the entire library. There is also a 280-seat movie house in which interested persons can watch videos and movies of Enver Hoxha. The Director’s office and other administrative offices are located in the basement. The central area will be used for temporary exhibits. This library will in due course become the repository of all the material related to the Party of Labour of Albania and communist parties around the world.
It took Spiro Dede and his associates about three years to bring the Museum from blueprint designs to completion, and they accomplished the task by using solely their own professional and technical knowhow. The Museum stands as a magnificent image of the policy of self-reliance and independence that was initiated by Enver Hoxha and implemented by him throughout his life. It opened to the public on Enver Hoxha’s 80th birthday on October 16, 1988, and has been visited by thousands of Albanians and foreigners.
(The New Weekly Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 15, 1989, pp. 15-18.)