Thousands of citizens, politicians and foreign dignitaries attended the ceremony at the Congress Palace in Tirana, where wreaths were laid in his honour.

Prime Minister Edi Rama, Speaker Niko Peleshi, Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku and several cabinet members joined the tributes, along with former presidents Alfred Moisiu and Bamir Topi.

Opposition politicians, including former Democratic Party leader Lulzim Basha, also paid their respects.

Regional figures such as Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti and North Macedonia’s Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) leader Ali Ahmeti were among the mourners.

Representatives of the diplomatic corps, the judiciary, and religious communities also attended.

After the ceremony, Nano’s coffin was escorted through Tirana’s main boulevard to the Council of Ministers building before being taken to Sharra cemetery for burial.

As the procession departed, Frank Sinatra’s My Way – Nano’s favourite song – was played while citizens placed white carnations on the casket.

The government declared November 2 a national day of mourning, with flags flown at half-mast and a minute of silence observed at noon.

Nano, who served five times as prime minister, was a central figure in Albania’s post-communist transition and is remembered as the founder who transformed the former Labour Party into the modern Socialist Party.

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State officials, politicians and prominent arts and literature figures from Albania and Kosovo, and many mourners gathered to pay their last respects.

Kadare’s white rose coffin was carried out of the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet amid applauds after the public tributes ceremony and made its way to the public cemetery in Tufina in a private ceremony attended by the family members and relatives only, as requested by his spouse Helena.

Kadare passed away at 88 on June 1, leaving behind a profound legacy that has forever shaped the landscape of literature.

Albanian government had declared two days of national mourning in honor of the giant of the Albanian literature.

The state ceremony, organized by the Prime Minister’s Office, saw the attendance of the highest officials, including Prime Minister Edi Rama, President Bajram Begaj, and Speaker of the Assembly Lindita Nikolla, alongside ministers, cultural figures, and diplomats. Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani and Prime Minister Albin Kurti also attended and paid their last respects.

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