Welcoming speech of the Minister of Culture, Elva Margariti at the ceremony of announcing the international competition for the project of building the “Besa” Museum

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

Friends and guests,

I am not exaggerating if I say that February 15 is a historic day for culture.

A few hours ago we laid the foundation stone for the establishment of the National Cultural Center for Children and now we are together again to announce the international competition for the establishment of theMuseum of Faith.

While we have turned on all the engines to catch up the lost time and join the big European family, we have not for a moment forgotten thatin that door we will enter as Albanian.

It is not enough to be “exemplary” and fulfill some obligations, but to be WE, such a unique people, with a big soul and heart, full of energy and desire to move forward.

We will enter Europe giving the FAITH, that we really deserve this family for the values they have inherited and we will pass them on to our children.

Today we have gathered to pave the way for the establishment of a tangible institution for something intangible, and I am convinced that it will be a unique museum, the result of an extraordinary challenge for designers .

When the translators of Kadare‘s works or of the texts that talk about faith had to translate this word into their language, they found it impossible. They approached it with explanations, to some extent close, but without being able to fully express the weight and meaning that this word carries. That is why it is simply and Albanian: BESA!

To give or bind FAITH, is more than a word kept; more than one legal act; more than one law.

It is the initiator cell; is the Word; the first, just like in the Bible.

It is born with the Albanian and is transmitted as a spirit from generation to generation, as a virtue not just of an individual, but of a people;

A moral obligation, which can only be exchanged for life.

So also in our Highlands, faith was bound over what was most precious:over the stone, over the cross and the Gospel, and over the head of the boys;

On the stone that would be placed on his grave, on faith in God and on the continuity of blood.

In the ballad of Kostanini and Doruntina, the old mother of Kostanini was resting in her last apartment, because she had broken the promise. The curse of the faith overcame the worlds, and Constantine was taken from the grave: the tombstone became a horse black as night; the earth became a saddle and the wheel that held the stone became a silver bridle.

He passed from death to life, eventhe knock of his horse continues to overcome the centuries, to bring us to our days a holy word, that of keeping the promise given .

It has a dimension as grand, solemn as it is tragic, carved on the walls of Rozafat, in the towers of the North, sung on the venerable lute in the national anthem.

And there is nothing more extraordinary and challenging than speaking to strangers, but above all to the younger generation, our children, who perhaps it may seem like an archaic rudiment of the time of the Constantines, for such a unique value, which our people have shown in the course of history: in waiting, loyalty, generosity to a friend, but also in the most sublime sacrifice, in defense of the lives of the vulnerable, those who in their darkest days knocked on the doors of Albanian hearts.

A story that comes to us from the first centuries after Christ with the Jews who built synagogues in Albania, to the rescue from the Nazi crematoriums of World War II, to Afghans and Ukrainians, who always have a homeland here.

In order to create an entirely Albanian space, we have selected a category I cultural monument-dwelling, located in a historical area, which will be restored and revives.

A new, modern structure will be connected as in a permanent dialogue between the past, present and future. Because it would be too few to think of just a museum. This new space should be a place of dialogue, where generations give and take; where our ancestors convey to us the best values of the Albanian with today’s rhythm and language.

Even this building itself is a part of the history of this city and on the one handthis building and on the other hand the new structure will be in a symbiosis that gives value to each other .

This definitely increases the difficulties for the designers, who must preserve the monument, its architectural characteristics, as well as respecting the surrounding space, which is one of the most frequented areas of the city by Albanians and foreign visitors.

“Besa” should be one of the links of the cultural chain that starts with the Opera and Ballet Theater, continues with the National Theater, the Museum of Fine Arts for followed by this museum and the Castle of Tirana.

The fact that a building signed by Bjarke Ingels will be erected in this cultural space, I believe is one more reason why well-known architects should be put into competition for this museum.

Tirana with multiple layers is becoming more and more a magnet for famous architecture studios every day and the day will not be far when this city there will also be a tourism specifically related to architecture.

It is hard to find another city with this variety of styles and with this development dynamic like Tirana.

This should stimulate the ambition of the architects, to realize a unique project.

The international competition will take placein two phases.

In the first, applicants express their interest, present their portfolio, experiences, team, with a diverse composition of designers, architects, curators…, but also a project. From them, the 5 best will be selected, which will take their project idea to a more detailed level.

In the end, there will definitely be a winner, who will give us a museum for Besa, which will be one more reason to visit Albania. A magnet that will absorb visitors and researchers and as in a chain reaction will generate well-being.

Thank you!