Enver Hoxha Mausoleum
Encyclopedia
Enver Hoxha Mausoleum is a former mausoleum
in Tirana
, Albania
. This pyramid
-shaped structure was designed by the daughter and son-in-law of the late communist leader Enver Hoxha
. It was supposed to end up a museum about his legacy (in addition to his mausoleum), but became a conference center and party venue.
During the 1999 Kosovo War
, the mausoleum was used as a base by NATO and other international humanitarian organizations.
The 17,000 meters square complex will be destroyed so that the new Albanian parliament may be built on its place. Some leading foreign architects have opposed such a move while other supported it. Historian Ardian Klosi has initiated a petition not to demolish the structure with around 6000 signatures. Prior to being designated as the seat of the Albanian parliament, the structure was originally supposed to be turned into an opera theater, but construction works were mysteriously halted.
The surrounding space is currently being used as a parking lot, and bus station for mini vans to Elbasan.
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...
in Tirana
Tirana
Tirana is the capital and the largest city of Albania. Modern Tirana was founded as an Ottoman town in 1614 by Sulejman Bargjini, a local ruler from Mullet, although the area has been continuously inhabited since antiquity. Tirana became Albania's capital city in 1920 and has a population of over...
, Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
. This pyramid
Pyramid
A pyramid is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a single point. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, meaning that a pyramid has at least three triangular surfaces...
-shaped structure was designed by the daughter and son-in-law of the late communist leader Enver Hoxha
Enver Hoxha
Enver Halil Hoxha was a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary andthe leader of Albania from the end of World War II until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania...
. It was supposed to end up a museum about his legacy (in addition to his mausoleum), but became a conference center and party venue.
During the 1999 Kosovo War
Kosovo War
The term Kosovo War or Kosovo conflict was two sequential, and at times parallel, armed conflicts in Kosovo province, then part of FR Yugoslav Republic of Serbia; from early 1998 to 1999, there was an armed conflict initiated by the ethnic Albanian "Kosovo Liberation Army" , who sought independence...
, the mausoleum was used as a base by NATO and other international humanitarian organizations.
The 17,000 meters square complex will be destroyed so that the new Albanian parliament may be built on its place. Some leading foreign architects have opposed such a move while other supported it. Historian Ardian Klosi has initiated a petition not to demolish the structure with around 6000 signatures. Prior to being designated as the seat of the Albanian parliament, the structure was originally supposed to be turned into an opera theater, but construction works were mysteriously halted.
The surrounding space is currently being used as a parking lot, and bus station for mini vans to Elbasan.