Palace of Culture of Tirana

Palace of Culture of Tirana
Pallati i Kulturës
General information
Type	Palace of Culture, Opera House
Architectural style	Stalinist architecture
Location	Tirana, Albania
Address	Skanderbeg Square
Construction started	1959
Completed	1963
Height	50 meters

The Palace of Culture of Tirana (Albanian: Pallati i Kulturës) houses the National Library of Albania as well as the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet. Situated in Skanderbeg Square, it was originally built on the Pazari i Vjetër (English: Old Bazzar) area of Tirana at the behest of Enver Hoxha. The palace has changed little since its original construction in the 1960s.

The first stone of the new building was symbolically placed by Nikita Khrushchev in 1959. Construction was completed in 1963. The architecture is very similar to many communist-era social buildings in Eastern Europe.

Both the old bazaar and the historic mosque of Mahmud Muhsin Bey Stërmasi were destroyed under the plan, in adherence to Communist Albania's strict state atheism. The Ottoman mosque had been built from 1837 to 1840 and had a tiled roof as well as a striking minaret with a sherefe.

See also

• Academy of Music and Arts of Albania
• National Theatre of Opera and Ballet of Albania
• National Gallery of Figurative Arts of Albania