TIRANA, June  26 /ATA/ The 5 finalist studios competing in the international competition have started the presentation of their projects for the “Besa” Museum at the National Theater of Opera and Ballet.

The prestigious studios running in the race are: MVRDV from the Netherlands, EAA Emre Arolat Architecture from Turkey, Schneider & Schumacher from Germany, Cook Haffner Architecture Platform from UK and Oppenheim Architecture from Switzerland.

Prime Minister Edi Rama states in a post on social media that “the final of the international competition for the “Besa” Museum, a missing space of a great value for Albania, where the glorious story of the salvation of the Jews during the Second World War, will be the centre of gravity around which this space will come to life through the themes of coexistence, tolerance, peace, becoming a converging point of histories, cultures, opinions and dialogue between the different.”

“Beyond any classical approach, such as archeology and others, word of honor is a spiritual concept and as such definitely needs to be shown not only through history books but with a space that speaks Albanian and above all it also speaks the language of 2023. In short and in Albanian, this concept is called besa (word of honor). A spiritual dimension of Albanians and with this completeness that exists in Albania, we say with conviction that it does not exist in any other country,” said the Minister of Culture, Elva Margariti during the presentation at TKOB.

The “Besa” Museum is spiritually connected with the Jewish Museum in Vlora. Its construction is a challenge since on the one hand it is about the restoration and museumization of a historical building in the heart of Tirana, but at the same time it must speak with the voice of the time.

The journey to its implementation started with 17 designers who first responded to the call of the Ministry of Culture, then moving on to other stages of the competition, to reach the 5 finalists.

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