Tirana Between Historicism and Avant-gardism

The motivation for this article is generated from observing a recent tendency in the architectural expression of Tirana to go back to a pseudo-historic language. Regarding this concern, the paper focuses on the following question: will the architecture of Tirana continue to be influenced by the most avant-garde international trends, or will it fall in the black hole of Balkan’s local nationalisms? The existence of both trends in Tirana is evident and, not only during the two last decades, but much further back in history. This dialectic between historicism and avant-gardism, a continuous stream in the history of architecture, is true for Albania too. Most importantly, trying to answer the question above is crucial in the framework of projects with an epochal impact on the city; such is the project for the extension of Tirana’s North Boulevard. In order to answer the question, first I try to analyze the variety and coexistence of architectonic expressions starting from the beginning of the 1920’s to the present days; to some extent, I also explore how this architectonic expression was affected by external and internal influences; and, in particular, how architectonic representation in Tirana was directly related to political and economic powers.