Speech of Prime Minister Edi Rama at the presentation of the program “Heritage –an Engine of Growth”:
Hello everyone and thank you for your hospitality in this blessed place. I don’t mean just the square of the church, but I mean the whole of Vuno where we have come today, taking advantage of the completion of the works for the restoration of the church that collapsed two years ago, but where actually we want to talk about a new program that includes Vuno and old Dhërmi. A revitalization program that intervenes in a capillary way, in every cell, every lane, wall, window, roof, with the intent to render to these two pearls of the Ionian coast, and also the entire Albanian coast, the splendour lost after so many years of abandonment by the state, but also by the families who left.
“The relationship of the human being with the historical and cultural heritage is like the relationship between a mother and her child” – one famous writer has said. Actually, we are trying every day, even though the options are very limited, the needs are tremendous and sometimes alarming across the territory of Albania, to give this relationship a new dimension, not only to save what we have inherited, but also to turn it into an instrument of economic and social development.
No country, no state in the region or Europe, had they had Vuno, Dhermi, Himara or old Qeparo and other such places within their territories, would have ever allowed them to be ruined before their eyes for more than 20 years. And if we include here also Gjirokaster, Berat and so on, the grade of irresponsibility and complete lack of sensitivity by the state becomes catastrophic.
There is an inscription in this church stating that it was rebuilt by the inhabitants of this village, at their own expense, between 1778 and 1784. So, hundreds of years ago, our ancestors in this village rebuilt this church at their own expense. Whereas, hundreds of years later, in the 21st century, the church collapsed because the state did not care of it at all, and it is not the only one. This is the sad and tragic story of many cultural monuments in all these years. This is how many houses in Gjirokaster have collapsed one after the other, this is how many works of extraordinary importance to our history and culture have been ruined one after the other.
It is even more shocking if we consider that the collapse of the church was not a phenomenon that happened in a day, but it began after its roof burnt down in the years ‘97 -’98 and its entire structure got eroded because of forgetfulness, the rain and the wind. It took 16 years for the church to be restored. But, if we consider the value of its interior, the dimension of this abandonment is even more criminal.
But we want to go further and do for all the buildings in Vuno and Dhërmi what we are doing for this small building, and give the entire tourist zone a new force to develop in addition to transforming these sites of historical and cultural heritage in a further development engine for the entire area.
The truth is that considering their important cultural values, whether the castle or the old village of Himare, whether Vuno or old Dhërmi were put under state protection by us. We began a detailed study to identify one by one every wall and every window that belongs to the heritage. There are in the area of Vlore only, not in the region, but in the area of Vlore, 110 cultural monuments many of which are located precisely in Vuno, Dhermi and Himara.
Let me remind you that we found these monuments two and a half years ago, at the mercy of fate, and we inherited only for this duty of the state to protect monuments 2.14 million dollars in debt. No inventory! Imagine a state that has no inventory of its cultural monuments and objects of cultural heritage. Insignificant investments made without any criteria, without any general plan and without any idea about what those investments would give in return, because it is universally known, especially in this field, that investments are incentives for indirect growth, in addition to bringing growth for the households in areas that have monuments of such value.
This situation was such across the territory, not only in Vuno, Dhermi, old Himara or Qeparo. We found without any protection one of the greatest assets of our national culture, the photograph library of the Marubi Dynasty. We found the Archaeological Museum of Durres locked with a rusty padlock, one of those used to close warehouses where there is nothing inside. Objects were left entirely at the mercy of fate, and inventory was done very badly. Likewise, churches and medieval icons in the city of Korca were left in oblivion.
Whereas today, we are about to open the doors of the new Museum of Marubi, a museum of European standards in Shkodra, which will ensure not only the protection, under all conditions, of all the of the assets of the photograph library, but it will also the promote this great asset, make it accessible for all visitors, and use it to create an added financial and economic value for the whole of Shkoder, a city that will have the interest of many visitors, be it only because of the museum.
We opened the doors of the Archaeological Museum of Durres after a colossal and very detailed work to clear all objects, to do the inventory and present them to visitors. We are about to open the doors of the new Museum of Medieval Art in Korca, that will be another added value in the area and, like the museum of Marubi, will attract an increased interest and an increased number of visitors.
We have continued with many restoration projects throughout the territory and have done everything we could in order for every place of worship of any religion to not continue degrading, and to have these places of worship emerge little by little as an important presence in our common life, in view of a legacy of religious harmony and coexistence that is an obligation for all of us to preserve.
The cultural revival of these villages, which goes hand in hand with the program for the Ionian coast for clearing the territory of informality and abuse, ranging from the removal of the jungle of false ownership titles. 11 thousand hectares with false ownership titles that have been transferred from the legitimated owners to alleged owners, will be returned whether to the state or to the people.
Just as we will give back everyone a territory clear of all sorts of informal lumps. We have done a considerable work, but it is a job that must continue because these great values that our ancestors crated by building houses that today are cultural monuments, such as the villages of Vuno and Dhermi who are practically a protected cultural area, cannot coexist with some ugly edifices that do nothing but ruin the harmony and undermine not only the image but also the content of these territories.
We are ready to begin with the investment as soon as the study and the project are completed. We are going to invest a significant amount of money in Vuno, Dhermi and beyond, in Qeparo where the study has begun – I mean in the old upper Qeparo, because we are already investing in lower Qeparo. We are also investing in the coastline of Himare, which was turned into a “Bathore” by the sea, while now is turning into a Mediterranean tourist town, where the number of visitors will unquestionably increase. We are investing in a new study to invest later in the urban rehabilitation of Dhërmi, Jale, a gem that has also turned in an unimaginable situation of unrelated constructions, but, above all, with an unacceptable infrastructure with holes all over the square.
So, we are investing in order to give the entire coastline within a short time, a completely new look and opportunity, and have all homes available for tourism. We can built many new homes and tourist resorts, but there is no investor or equity that builds a natural tourist resort, such as Vuno, old Dhërmi or old Qeparo. We only have to invest in these houses and give families some opportunities, whether they are here or not, to open their homes to tourists and receive profits from their homes. In addition to increasing both the number of people and the interest extremely – and it will happen, the image of tourist Albania which has been badly damaged throughout these years will improve as well. All of you are witnesses of how informal constructions and garbage were the most intense activity, maybe the only activity carried out in these area where, in order to reach their rooms, tourists had to walk among the hills of garbage right in the centre of the parks, alongside the national roads, and so on.
Together with the Municipality of Himare, we have a concrete plan for what I just said, and for many other things. Be assured that what we are doing, what we are saying and what we will continue to do, will be a completely new reality in a few years, a regenerated coastline in the best sense of the word. I know that there are great expectations, and we feel honoured for this. I know that impatience is huge, and we feel sorry for this. It is not your fault, neither of the citizens of Fier, Vlora, Tirana, Tropoje, because you have waited many years and now you want everything done immediately, but it cannot be done immediately, because projects take their time and they cannot be made without proper studies.
Meanwhile, inventories need to be done along with the projects, because the state was transformed in a warehouse without inventory and with a mountain of debts at the same time. By releasing from the loop of debts of the previous government, by putting inventories in order in every sector, by making the studies and the projects, we have done a very important work in order to continue with more concrete investments, in addition to creating a chain of investments that will not be interrupted and that will give the Ionian Coast a great chance, pave a new path of growth that is absolutely possible, and which has been impossible in all these years because of the irresponsibility, ignorance, greed and all the vices that tightened upon the neck of politics and the government in Tirana and did not allow them to look at the future for the people of this country.
Many thanks to all! As a grandson from Vuno I am entitled to be particularly pleased that this land has finally a chance to revive, so that we will have the possibility to come and stay here longer, in this little public square near the monument, where the elders use to gather and discuss the problems of the world.
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“Heritage – an Engine of Growth” is the newest program for the cultural, tourist, economic and social revitalization of the Ionian Coast. Through the restoration, conservation and rehabilitation of traditional settlements and areas of cultural heritage, the aim is to revive traditional values of the community, increase tourism and make the economy of the area grow.
This initiative was presented in the recently restored square before the church of Vuno. After the roof burnt down in 1998, the church has been ruined for 15 years. The church of St. Spyridon has been rebuilt from scratch, becoming one of the most precious objects of our historical and cultural heritage. The Ministry of Culture funded its total restoration. Located in the neighbourhood of lower Vuno, the church forms an ensemble along with other buildings.
The church of St. Spyridon is one of the 110 monuments of culture of great importance to our history and culture, which were left in decay and complete oblivion. To curb the total destruction of these monuments, they were placed under state protection, and a revitalization program has been launched. The Minister of Culture Mirela Kumbaro noted that the churches and the characteristic apartments are one of the assets of this area. In Dhërmi and Vuno only 550 such buildings have been identified, and for them restoration projects are being prepared. Restoration projects are ready for 9 of the most important churches along the Coast, within the project “Journey of Faith”.
As part of the measures for the preservation of historical, urban and architectural values, the launch of the Historic Centre of Himare, Dhërmi and Vuno was announced, and a regulation for the management of the surrounding protected area was adopted. The criteria for conservation, restoration and urban redevelopment have been defined in accordance with the values of every area. Meanwhile, an investment package will include not only the cultural revival of the Ionian Coast but its overall development as well.
