Albania 1921 – Eugène Pittard in Albania
SHKODËR
After its successful opening at COD – the Center for Openness and Dialogue at the Prime Minister’s Office, as well as at the Pyramid Center, the exhibition ‘Albania 1921 – Eugène Pittard’ now comes to the public in Shkodër. Shkodra was the Swiss academic’s first stop in Albania.The exhibition will be open on the square in front of Shkodër City Hall from 23 April 2026 until 7 May 2026.The opening ceremony will be held on Wednesday, 22 April 2022 at Cinema Republika, Shkodër.
Entry is free. You are all invited!
SHKODRA
« I visit a house without windows, a small open space under the roof, with no furniture at all. Floored with planks. The villagers all sleep together on the ground without even a single blanket. The most absolute misery. The priest arrives. An admirable, strapping Franciscan who runs the school: the Government wanted to close the schools, but he continues teaching free of charge. To the question: Would the people of Prekali go to Shkodër to collect their maize? He answers: with the speed of the sun’s rays… A group of wretched people in rags. Eugène asks that it be translated to them that the League of Nations is sending them maize and that we hope it will arrive soon. Eugène takes photographs. We
dress them at once in the new shirts. These take the place of the rags, which deserve only to be burned…
We set off from Puka at 7 o’clock. Very threatening weather, an icy wind. At the Han we learn that an old woman who was coming from Dushka (Dushi) to Puka to collect a shirt died on the way back. We stop at a gendarmerie checkpoint. We tell some very poor people to come to Gomsiqe to collect shirts.
We reached Gomsiqe at 2 o’clock, without stopping. Lunch at the priest’s house. Distribution of the shirts. People in rags. We left cotton cloth for the family of the woman who died. We return at 4:30. Impossible to cross the Drin, which has swollen. We take a small boat that lets in water. Crossing the plain of the Drin, we notice the damage of the
river, which carries away the arable land, shrinks the area of the fields, destroys the crops…”
Hélène Pittard (Noëlle Roger). « Journey to Albania », March–April, Library of Geneva.
Watch the documentary here:
Photos from the event
Other events:
DURRËS
The famous Swiss “returns” – this time to Durrës!
In 1921 and 1924, Eugène and Hélène Pittard travelled across Albania, capturing on celluloid
everyday life, the towns, the villages, the people and the untouched landscapes.
This exhibition offers a rare glimpse of the country, seen through the eyes of the renowned Swiss academic and great friend of Albania.
Open-air exhibition – Veliera Square, Durrës
From 12 to 19 May 2026
This “journey” of Pittard to Durrës comes after his exhibition in the city of Shkodra, an exhibition which remained open
