The 100th anniversary of the Order of Skanderbeg was commemorated today in a solemn ceremony at the Palace of Congresses, honouring our national values and recognising the individuals who inspire the present and shape our shared European future.

The evening, attended by the President of the Republic, Bajram Begaj, Prime Minister Edi Rama, and other distinguished personalities from various fields, opened with the screening of the documentary “The Order of Skanderbeg in Its Centenary, The Revival of a Distinctive Symbol of European Albania”. The film was accompanied by the ceremonial procession and placement at the centre stage of Albania’s Orders from one century ago and from this century, led by the 1925 Necklace of Honour of Albania.

Afterwards, the ceremony continued with the decoration of 22 distinguished individuals with the three national orders: the Supreme Order of the Eagle, the Order of Skanderbeg, and the Order of the Academic Oak.

 

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 Prime Minister Edi Rama:

Mr President of the Republic,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Distinguished Guests,

At every turning point in history, whenever Albanians have gathered or found themselves united to lay another stone along the long path of national effort or to raise a new pillar of our fragile statehood, they have turned, consciously or not, to the figure that stands at the heart of our being as a national and state entity: Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg.

He was the patron of our history, the Albanian who sowed the seed of statehood in the soil of freedom; the man who chose a just struggle in an age engulfed in injustice; the leader who defended the homeland with military and diplomatic genius; the baptizer of our national identity and our European belonging.

Today, his name gathers us here again, a century after the creation of the Order of Skanderbeg, not only to recall a state-building act from the dawn of Albania’s republican life, but to uphold and honor the very idea of merit, through the renewed dignity of our system of orders and decorations.

In December 1925, Albania was still an emerging state, born through hardship between two great historical earthquakes; a newborn republic with scarcely any institutions, yet with a clear and resounding aspiration: to become part of Europe by eagerly adopting the political culture of the old continent.

And so, at that moment, the infant republic adopted the European creation of orders and decorations, establishing the Order of Skanderbeg with the following decree:

“In commemoration of the proclamation of the Republic of Albania on 31 January 1925, the Order and Medal of Skanderbeg are established as the sole Albanian order.”

It is no coincidence that a republic barely out of swaddling clothes chose not to elevate a monetary prize for its distinguished citizens, but an order grounded in merit.

Allow me to recall the words of Napoleon Bonaparte, who, when founding the Legion of Honour as a convinced republican, declared:

“There is a government, and there are powers, but what are the other members of the nation? Grains of sand. We must cast blocks of granite. We must give the people direction, and for this we need instruments.”

The Order of Skanderbeg was precisely such a “block of granite,” set into the foundations of the new Albania to recognise merit and highlight the strength of example, an instrument serving a system of values where it is not the title that confers honour, but honour that renders merit timeless.

The fate, or rather, the greatness of its name ensured that this order survived the successive waves that eroded much beneath the foundations of the Albanian state.

The Order of Skanderbeg survived the sword of monarchy, the fire of dictatorship, and the mire of the transition to democracy, during which the system of orders and decorations shifted from honouring the servants of the homeland to rewarding subservience to the power of a single individual, before degrading entirely into a farce of tin medals that humiliated the state with their ignorance.

Where once the decorated were those who lifted the nation upward, they later became those who propped up the regime. Eventually, the distinction between the two collapsed entirely, so much so that even the deceased were summoned in absentia to receive decorations stripped of all meaning, let alone dignity.

Thus, orders and medals lost their symbolism, their beauty, their meaning in time and space, and any connection to the European constellation of orders and decorations, reduced to metallic caricatures of deep institutional decay.

This long and painful decline drove us to undertake a profound reform of the system, not as a cosmetic adjustment, but as a foundational act to restore the Republic’s harmony with its European counterparts and return the honouring of merit to the height it deserves, grounded in European tradition and consolidated practice.

As a wise man once said:

“The greatest reward of virtue is to be honoured for it.”

Public recognition of merit, as an elevated institutional act, carries a dual moral responsibility, both for those who bestow it in the name of the Republic and for those who receive it from the Republic.

The creation of the Chancellery of Orders and Decorations was the first step to halt further deviation and to open the path back to Europe.

This Chancellery is the long-missing home of memory and stewardship of the highest civic and state values embodied in orders and medals.

It will serve as the living archive of the contributions that make Albania better, a museum of merit elevated to honour, and a source of inspiration for society and future generations.

The Chancellery will also oversee the issuance of commemorative medallions whenever the memory of historical dates or events requires not only symbolic remembrance but witnesses who become custodians and heirs of that memory.

On this occasion, upon the proposal of the Chancellery, we are presenting tonight the first two centennial medallions of the Order of Skanderbeg to the families of two tireless servants of this meaningful reform: Artan Lame and Filip Rrumbullaku.

Two men who are no longer with us, but whose passion and expertise in the field of orders, medals, state emblems, and traditions will be remembered as loyal bearers of a state legacy once believed buried forever beneath the feet of ignorance in power.

Tonight, the Republic expresses its gratitude to their families.

In this 100th anniversary, we are not merely celebrating a state-forming event.

We are rekindling a light.

We are reviving an institution.

And above all, we are restoring to life a century-old message:

That tomorrow’s Albania cannot be built without people who value merit above all wealth and respect above all reward.

A message at the core of the European system of orders and decorations, according to which the homeland we must leave behind is not a place where wealth becomes the measure of respect, but a shared space where respect is earned through contribution and responsibility, just as Jean-Jacques Rousseau said:

“I would wish that a rich man, who is only rich, should find no glory in his homeland except by feeling obliged to serve it.”

For these reasons, the Republic of Albania joins that system today, after 80 years of separation and wandering through the blind alleys of dictatorship and the banalities of transition.

The Order of Skanderbeg was born as a graceful creation of the Republic in 1925, and it is reborn today, in 2025, with the restored grace of a Europe.

Allow me to conclude with the ending suggested by the Chancellery:

Long live the Order of Skanderbeg!

Long live the Republic of Albania!

Long live merit, together with all Albanians who embody it.

Thank you.