Gani Strazimiri

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Gani Strazimiri (* 1915 in Peshkopia ; † 1993 ) was an Albanian architect .

life and work

Ismail Strazimiri (1868–1943), Gani's father, Albanian patriot and independence fighter (see Rilindja ) from Dibra , who led a group of Chetniks against the Serbs during the Balkan Wars . He died as a partisan in 1943 . The exact date of birth of Gani Strazimiri is unclear: Certain sources indicate 1915, other archive documents mention May 9, 1917. Gani had three siblings: Lufti was trained as an engineer in Berlin and built numerous bridges in Albania, Siri did an apprenticeship in Italy Career in the army and Drita made a career as an actress and director.

The peasant family was wealthy enough to finance Gani Strazimiri's education at the grammar school in Tirana . There he immersed himself in painting . He then traveled to Turin to study architecture . However, he broke off his training in order to join the partisans at home who fought the Italian and German occupiers during World War II . Enver Hoxha and his wife Nexhmije mentioned him in their works as a fighter and architect. His brother Lufti, however, was in prison until 1953 because he is said to have sympathized with the Germans.

Shallvare building in Tirana (2007)
Hotel Adriatic in Durrës

After the war, Gani received a scholarship to study architecture in the Soviet Union . In Moscow he dealt with the city ​​planning of Tirana and received the requested documents from the ministry. Strazimiri worked as a city planner on his return to Albania - but his plans for a socialist capital were never realized. Between 1951 and 1955 he realized the Shallvare building in Tirana, a series of residential buildings in the city center along the Lana and Rinia Park . He was also the architect of other residential buildings and the Hotel Adriatik in Durrës , and he also taught at the Polytechnic University of Tirana . In the mid-1950s, his architectural style came under increasing criticism: too playful and too much luxury on the outer facades, too sparse on the inside; Strazimiri was entrusted with other tasks and was more and more forgotten.

"Gani Strazimiri, the once-celebrated architect of the 1950s, continued to labor in relative obscurity following the rejection of the monumentality of the Stalin era."

“The architect Gani Strazimiri, who was celebrated in the 1950s, worked more in secret after the monumentality of the Stalin era had been canceled.”

- Elidor Mëhilli : From Stalin to Mao

Then Strazimiri made an important contribution to the preservation of Albanian architecture and tradition as director of the Institute for Cultural Monuments founded in 1965 . He set up the country's first program for the protection of cultural property . In 1971 Strazimiri founded the series of publications "monumentet" (The Monuments) of the institute, which he was editor-in-chief until 1974. In 2007 the Institute for Cultural Monuments was renamed and was named Instituti i Monumenteve të Kulturës "Gani Strazimiri" in memory of him . In his function as cultural monuments protector, he fought vehemently against the demolition of the 14th century Catholic Church in Vau-Deja - a dangerous criticism of the government at that time in communist Albania , where any practice of religion was forbidden .

The painting Tirana's Old Bazaar (1931) was exhibited posthumously at documenta 14 .

Works (selection)

  • Traits communs a l'architecture médiévale de nos villes (XVIII-XIXs) . University of Tirana, Tirana 1962 (Original title: Disa tipare te perbashketa te arkitektures te qvteteve tona mesjetare .).
  • Disa tipare të arkitekturës së qytetit të Beratit: kumtesë mbajtur në Konferencën e Parë të Studimeve Albanologjike 15–21 nëntor 1962 . Tirana 1965.
  • as editor-in-chief: monumentet . Ed .: Instituti i Monumenteve të Kulturës. No. 1-8 . Tirana (1971-1974).
  • with Feride Papleka, Refik Veseli : Berati qytet-muze . 8 Nëntori, Tirana 1987.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b documenta 14, daybook Gani Strazimiri , accessed on July 24, 2019.
  2. ↑ Koli Xoxi: Fjalor enciklopedik shqiptar . Ed .: Akademia e Shkencave e RPSSH . Tirana 1985, Strazimiri Ismail, p. 933 .
  3. ↑ Elidor Mehilli: Tirana utopike. In: Peizazhe të fjalës. March 7, 2018, accessed July 27, 2019 (Albanian, footnote [i]).
  4. ↑ Ismail Strazimiri. In: Nga Balshajt tek Strazimirët. February 17, 2019, accessed July 27, 2019 (Albanian).
  5. ↑ a b c Elidor Mehilli: From Stalin to Mao - Albania and the Socialist World . Cornell University Press, Ithaca 2017, ISBN 978-1-5017-1415-3 , pp. 64 ff . ( Tirana Utopike (translation into Albanian)).
  6. ↑ Enver Hoxha Për shkencën: përmbledhje veprash . tape 1 . 8 Nëntori, Tirana 1985, p. 137 .
  7. ^ Nexhmije Hoxha: Jeta ime me Enverin . Lira, Tirana 1998, p. 92, 180 f .
  8. ↑ The history of the famous neighborhoods of Tirana , accessed on July 24, 2019.
  9. ↑ Rezarta Delisula: Tirana-Mahnia . Maluka, Tirana 2018, ISBN 978-9928-26018-5 , The Story of Shallvare, p. 102 f . (Translation of an article published in Gazeta Shqiptare in 2002).
  10. ↑ Elidor Mehilli: From Stalin to Mao - Albania and the Socialist World . Cornell University Press, Ithaca 2017, ISBN 978-1-5017-1415-3 , pp. 81 .
  11. ↑ Elidor Mehilli: From Stalin to Mao - Albania and the Socialist World . Cornell University Press, Ithaca 2017, ISBN 978-1-5017-1415-3 , pp. 171 .
  12. ↑ a b Elidor Mehilli: From Stalin to Mao - Albania and the Socialist World . Cornell University Press, Ithaca 2017, ISBN 978-1-5017-1415-3 , pp. 230 .
  13. ↑ Julia Vrapi: Instituti i Monumenteve të Kulturës, tashmë me emrin "Gani Strazimiri" - institucioni nderohet me emrin e arkitektit të njohur . In: Sot . October 18, 2007, p. 19 (Albanian, entry of the article in the catalog of the National Library of Albania ).
  14. ↑ Ferdinand Dervishi: Gani Strazimiri, arkitekti që më 1979 guxoi të padiste prishjen e një kishe katolike - Arkiva Shqiptare e Lajmeve. In: Infoarkiv. Panorama, March 29, 2010, accessed July 24, 2019 (Albanian).
personal data
SURNAME Strazimiri, Gani
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Albanian architect and painter
DATE OF BIRTH 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Peshkopia
DATE OF DEATH 1993