Marubi National Museum of Photography

Marubi National Museum of Photography, also known as Marubi Museum, is a museum in Shkodër, Albania. At the center of the museum project is the legacy of the 'Photo-Studio Marubbi', founded in 1856 by Pietro Marubbi, an Italian painter and photographer who came and settled in Shkodër at the time. The activity of the studio over the years, was directed and enriched by three generations of photographers, until the early 1950s, time when Geg Marubi was forced to give oneself up to the communist collective anonymity, by joining other photographers in the photography unit of the former Repair-Services Cooperative. In 1970 was founded the Marubi Photo-Studio with around 500,000 negatives in various techniques and formats. Later on, historical images from the archive were (in many cases) used to feed the communist propaganda machine. It was during this period that many of them appeared in the editions of the time manipulated and alienated. The new museum, projected by the architectural studio Casanova + Hernandez, has been designed as a space which promote the dialogue between tradition and modernity, past and present. The heritage and tradition are emphasized by means of the restoration project of the historic building designed by Kole Idromeno – Albanian artist and architect, former student of Pietro Marubbi – while preserving its structural features.