The National Theater is no more!

The National Theater is no more! The building, with an existence of almost 81 years built at that time by the Italians, collapsed this morning at dawn, around 04.30! When we are still in the wave of Covid-19 and where until a few hours ago the headline of every print or visual media, every TV studio or front page of the newspaper focused on the coronavirus in Albania, the curve of the infected, the economic consequences that are prevail over those of fear of the new virus, today the gramophone record has changed! The demolition of the National Theater has been the background music since early this morning, which significantly disturbed not only the cast of actors who had been structured for 27 months to say "STOP" to the demolition of the building of this cultural institution, but they were also stationed. physically for days at the entrance of the theater, with the cause of physically protecting every inch of land and this building. But the National Theater collapsed, initially its roof, which many paralleled with the fact that its collapse "caught" generations of artists, world masterpieces of literature, characters, acts and roles that have been elevated over the years in the former the National Theater building, to give way to a new modern theater! Without towers, without commercial spaces, as expressed by the Mayor Erion Veliaj, or other government structures.

Today, everyone expressed their voice and image! With attitudes that were made public through direct links in the media, or through posts on social networks, from President Ilir Meta to Prime Minister Rama, the mayor of the capital Erion Veliaj, opposition leader Lulëzim Basha, Monika Kryemadhi, and many other active factors of domestic politics, the media, well-known artists, civil society activists and representatives of the Alliance for the Protection of Theater. What was not easily "overcome" by many was the fact that many times attempts were made to involve politics in the cause of the theater, and it was the citizens who gathered in the square in front of the National Theater who were asked by many of them to " don't sneeze �and not interfere in this matter, demanding the resignation of the deputy, as long as they claimed to be there for the theater and not only! The 27-month stamina of many artists, led by renowned actor Neritan Liçaj, has been widely echoed in the Albanian and even international media, although the actor with tears in his eyes and handcuffs ended up in police stations today, like many others. there to protect the stage of life, the building that gave them the "soul" with their artistic roles and interpretations.

Clearly, the issue of demolishing the National Theater building has divided opinions, attitudes, and even the artists themselves in two opposite directions: those who are PRO and those who are AGAINST! Rumors say that the scales are tilted by those who agree with the construction of the new modern theater, which will be available to all artists, will have large spaces, modern stages and will guarantee the "masters of home �, ie from the actors to the administration the optimal conditions to develop their work and career. The parameters of the old building, as stated by the mayor Erion Veliaj, were not a guarantee standard and contradicted every construction technique, every engineer, urban planner, architect, specialist in this field. Therefore, although full of history and values, which made the old building an extraordinary art history with almost monumental values, it collapsed to give way to the new modern project and the theater that will be listed in the range of those projects of news of this government and municipality that have come to life since the first day of government, we remember the New Bazaar, the playground at Artifical Lake, the New Ring, projects that have been anathemaed en masse, with constant protests, violence, etc. Many suggested that a new theater be erected elsewhere, and others demanded the restoration of the existing building, while Prime Minister Rama and professionals in the field who have been involved in the new modern National Theater project called it the old one, simply "caracatine". "!

But what is the panorama of developments and attitudes today during the collapse of the National Theater

The first to react from senior officials of the Albanian state was President Ilir Meta, who through a post on social networks shared with all his position just a few hours after the collapse of the roof of the old theater building.

Ilir Meta's full post:

A few hours ago, at the height of the darkness, MAFIA ordered the destruction, not only of one of the most endangered cultural heritage monuments in Europe, but also of any illusion of the existence of the rule of law in Albania.

The simultaneous rape of artists and journalists is a black mark on the ruling MAFIEN.

This view will be remembered in the same way as the boats of the dictatorship in '67 over churches and mosques.

THIS IS A CONSTITUTIONAL, LEGAL AND MORAL CRIMINAL CRIME.

Then it was Prime Minister Rama who responded to director Edmond Budina, while the latter said that â??criminals and mobsters tried to kill people who were inside the theater. We urge the citizens of Albania not to engage in civil disobedience, to break the quarantine and to join in the continuous protests until the mobsters are gone. We ask the President to dissolve the Parliament illegally ", said Budina.

Through a post on Twitter, came the response of Prime Minister Edi Rama to the director:

"Two words to the good man Edmond Budina: You have the right to continue to think differently from Robert Ndrenika, Luftar Paja, Gëzim Kame, Viktor Zhusti, Ruzhdi Pulaha, Pirro Milkani, Albert Minga, Altin Basha and many others who are history old and new on the national stage� But it is not for you to insult, insult and slander the same as they do, nor do you have the right to impose yourself on the will of the government, the municipality or the majority of the theatrical community, because insults and insults are not. they are art, slander is not cultural heritage and democracy is not absurd theater� I am neither holy nor infallible and I can't stop anyone from painting me as a devil, but I have an authorial connection with the black works you accuse me of, as much as it has to do with Shakespeare and Moliere those parties that were entrenched in the theater as in the next square for the next round �.

Then it was the mayor of Veliaj, who in a press release said that the demolition of the National Theater was the most difficult decision of his life!

Full statement:

Today was a day when we had to make the right decision, but extremely difficult. I say right because the discussion about a new theater has been a discussion for 70 years, from the moment the temporary period of those few years of war ended, to open another discussion, what will we have as a permanent building of the Theater National.

That building was invented over the years as for the popular courts of that time, but then for other functions, then the cinema, then the theater again, then the bingo and again the theater, an extremely depreciated building. We started this discussion, that is, this last round of discussions of these three years, when we proposed a new theater with the transfer of the new administration in the Municipality of Tirana. We had a project for the New Bazaar, the New Boulevard, for a new River Bank, for a new part of the Lake, for a New Square, a new Castle and of course, for a New Theater, along with many schools, roads and new investments that suit Tirana for the last 100 years. There was a very long discussion. I have been to 12 meetings in the main hotels of the center, where we have met non-stop even with those who have been against everything, which in the end were a minority, even with those who have had objections to various parts of the process. Originally a theater was not preferred to have a tower above and it fell as a variant.

The Government and the Municipality withdrew, taking a step back; then it was demanded that there be an opportunity to finance it by making sure that the land of the theater is not affected at all, despite the fact that a private investment in the land of the Municipality would be narrowed. We took another step back, both the government and the municipality, so that not a single centimeter would touch the National Theater. Then there was another part, which required that this not be done even by the private, and when the artists asked for more than the private could offer, we said we would go with the artists. If they are looking for plants, looking for scenes that revolve around themselves, that probably cost more than the private sector can afford to plan its own business, then we will say no to the private sector, we will say yes to the public, and we will finance the project ourselves. new.

Throughout this process, these 12 open meetings, but also hundreds of individual meetings that I as mayor have done with most of the artist community, we have certainly moderated our attitudes, but in a negotiation you cannot get everything. We cannot have the theater without a tower, on our own land, without making any other private investment, even then with our own money, but also to preserve the old one. In a center of Tirana, where all the important institutions are and not in the suburbs like the River Bank or the villages of Tirana, where we can have vacant lands.

This is why as soon as the property was transferred to us, we immediately requested, as we typically request for any property that is transferred to us, that this be verified by the Institute of Construction. The Institute of Construction hailed it in 2018 as an amortized and dangerous building, as seen from the slight drop it made today, with the first touches. It was verified again for the second time and the Institute of Construction again said: This is a dangerous building. We confirmed it with the Institute of Cultural Monument, which said: This building has never been a cultural monument, even in 2007, those who used this battle more politically these two and a half years, removed it as an opportunity to ever introduce it. in the lists of cultural monuments, considering it something completely worthless.

After we finished all these discussions, at the moment we became the first owners of this building, if something happened to each of those who occupied that public property unfairly, without papers, without documents, just entering there, staying long these 2.5 years of protest days would endanger lives, and the owner of that property, who has allowed others to enter, would be responsible.

As soon as the Construction Institute gave this opinion, we announced meetings of the Municipal Council, as have been done all the collegial meetings these days, online, and made the decision to make this demolition, as recommended by the Construction Institute. After we verified that not only the building was not protected, as some claim, but the building had never been on this list and it has been insisted especially not to be introduced by those who used this battle politically.

The old theater is gone, now we are preparing for the new theater. But as we prepare for the new theater, we need to learn a few lessons. One of the lessons we need to learn is that we need to cooperate; we need to work together to improve this idea. We have some very good ideas that have enriched the project by artists, but I believe we can do even better.

Today I want to extend my hand to anyone who disagreed with us in this battle; anyone who probably, even though he does not have the engineering expertise, even though he does not have the legal expertise to understand how these processes work, or maybe even the basic knowledge that, not only was he never a monument, but that in 2018 he was endangered, and as seen today after the demolition, was all the populace, sawdust, tin. We didnâ??t see a concrete column, an armature, a gram of steel. That building was really dangerous and could not be the building to take the children of this city to the next 100 years. You canâ??t go on with blankets in the winter or with towels, sweat porridge in the summer. We need a modern theater. Therefore, I want to extend my hand to anyone who, for one reason or another, today has a broken heart and feels sad that a battle that took time, energy, came to naught.

I want to tell you that is not the case. Tirana is our common home. We may have different opinions, but we may not have different facts. The task of the municipality is to decide on the facts, on the institutes, on the engineers, on the urban planners, on the architects, on the laws of this country, which say what is or is not a cultural monument. The moment this decision is made, the time has come to look beyond this day. The time has come to embrace each other, not to let the parties divide us, not to let the parties attack the Albanians with Albanians, brothers and sisters against each other. This is not the time to break up, but to unite! Believe me! Political parties rub their hands when they see how we are divided. And for what? To have a new modern theater for our children and the new generations of this city. So, brothers and sisters, what escaped, fled. It's time to dump her and move on. We were upset when the toy corner ended, but how happy we were to take the kids to that corner. Even then, NGOs were involved, but here we are today. There were some very upset activist people when we released the second part of the Lake; then Amnisty International was involved, another important NGO, but as it turned out, it was the right decision. The Roma also took over their homes and we won the second part of the Lake. See the New Boulevard, which will be the new economic vein of Tirana, see the quarrel we had about the New Bazaar, about Skanderbeg Square, which in 1913, it took us 104 years to complete a square. When we Albanians get together, we do wonderful things.

We are currently working on the new Castle, we will add another Castle, another contested project. I do not remember when we did a great job in Tirana and not to be contested, debated, not to be involved all kinds of politicians who have divided us these 30 years. They only think about what votes they will capitalize on when Albanians get into trouble and then as you saw it, they go to their luxury cars, to their villas and we go on and on and curse and curse each other. It does not go. What suits us is that we now cooperate. It doesn't matter if we have been on different sides of this barricade until today, but today, with my heart in my hand, I want to extend my hand to you, open my arms and I want to cooperate on how we can do this project. even better than we have today. In the final, the noise will be forgotten as it was forgotten at the New Bazaar, at the Castle, at the Square, at the River, at the Boulevard, at the Lake and at the Toys. In the final the product will triumph. Today we have the opportunity to switch to a quality product, worthy of Tirana for the next 100 years.

Love you so much! Sometimes this task requires you to make very difficult decisions. Probably the hardest decision of my life to actually implement the decision of the City Council, but sometimes the right thing will be judged calmly later. We have made the right decision my friends! Good priest and I look forward to spending the days ahead of us cooperating, embracing, fraternizing, not dividing. Tirana is a big house and there is room for everyone.
Thank you all from the bottom of my heart and no matter how we think, we have a long way to go before Tirana shines even brighter.

List of actors who signed the petition for the demolition of the National Theater:

Robert Ndrenika
Luftar Paja
Viktor Zhusti
Artan Imami
Spiro Duni
Leka Bungo
Altin Basha
Arben Derhemi
Pigeon Tower
Arben Kumbaro
Marjana Kondi
Zamira Kita
Helidon Fino
Emma Andrea
Hervin Ã?uli
Luli Hoxha
Laert Vasili
Salsano Rrapi
Gazmend Paja
Lulzim Zeqja
Genc Shkodrani
Gjergj Mena
Sonila Kapidani
Iliriana Basha
Marin Orhanasi
Iliriana Basha
Bajram Dosti
Ledio Lako
Jonida Beqo
Josif Sina
Alexander Grami
Eriola Kakeli
Erblin Bajko
Edvin Mustafa
Laejda Hajdari
York Brokaj
Jaho Guma
Roland Saro
Edmond Rrapi
Kozeta Kurti
Kristo Ã?ala
Albana Perhati
Dervish Biba
Armela Demaj
Algiona Aga
Alex Seitaj
Genti Deçka
Donald Shehu
Klesta Shero
Roerd Toçe
Amri Hasanlliu
Andon Koço
Laid Ymeri
Besart Ã?ani
Afrim Agalliu
Artan Islami
Margent Ã?aushi
Agron Hamo
Artur Dhamo
Agim Bajko
Alfred Trebicka
Nikolla Llambro
Armando Bora
Genc Fuga
Vangjel Agora
Carnation Shena
Piro Milkani
Ruzhdi Pulaha
Alfred Trebicka
Sotiraq Bratko
Albert Minga
Dhimitër Orgocka
Carnation Shena
Guri Koço
Ligoraq Riza
Kristian Koroveshi
Shiny Jaupi
Paola Kodra
Ilda Pepi
Erjola Meta
Blerta Belliu
Mateus Frroku
Adrian Cerga
Giuliano Briscu
Ina Gjonçi
Zamira Kita
Dhimitër Orgocka
Sotiraq Bratko
Guri Koco
Ligoraq Riza
Kristian Koroveshi
Shiny Jaupi
Paola Kodra
Ilda Pepi
Erjola Meta
Blerta Belliu
Mateus Frroku
Andon Qesari
Eni Jani
Adelina Muça
Blerina Kokona