DP Accuses Rama Over State of Cultural Institutions: Tirana Has No Museum, Gallery, Theater or National Circus

Democratic Party National Council Chair Julinda Emiri today accused Prime Minister Rama of leaving the capital without a museum, art gallery, theater or national circus. In a statement, she said the National Gallery closed its doors for reconstruction in October 2021 and, five years later, remains closed.

She stressed that the Democratic Party is seeking full information on the location of the thousands of works in the national collection, as well as the conditions in which they have been stored and conserved and the measures taken to ensure their security and monitoring during the years the Gallery has been closed. It is also seeking a final, verifiable date for its reopening.

Statement by Julinda Emiri, Chair of the Democratic Party National Council:

The Democratic Party strongly condemns the fact that the country has now been left without a National Gallery of Art for five years and demands full transparency from the government regarding the Gallery’s reconstruction, as it is one of the most important institutions of Albanian culture and national memory.

The National Gallery closed its doors for reconstruction in October 2021. In August 2026, five years later, it remains closed and under “reconstruction.” Meanwhile, the institution has a director, an administration, a budget, programs, calls for projects, competitions, a website and social media accounts. It has everything except the most important thing: open exhibition doors for the local public and foreign visitors.

Three years after the announcement of the reconstruction, in July 2024, Prime Minister Rama publicly announced from the construction site that the National Gallery was “being reborn,” with new exhibition spaces, a library, laboratories and a new concept for its halls.

Two years later, none of this has happened, and the Gallery remains closed.

The responsible ministry continues to issue tenders for reconstruction work, meaning that we are not close to completing the reconstruction but are instead at some unknown stage.

This cannot simply be considered a delay.

After five years, citizens have the right to know what has happened to this project, why there have been such delays, how much it has cost and when it will be completed.

The Democratic Party calls on the government to publicly answer the following questions:

-What was the original deadline for completing the reconstruction of the National Gallery?

-How many times has this deadline been changed or postponed, and for what reasons?

-What was the project’s initial value, and what is the total value of the contracts and tenders conducted to date?

-What additional work was approved during the project’s implementation, and how much did it cost?

-Have the contractors complied with the contracts and deadlines?

-Have penalties been imposed for the delays and, if not, why?

-Who supervised the work, and who is responsible for the project’s drawn-out delays?

-When will the National Gallery actually reopen to the public?

But there is another issue, one even more important than the reconstruction and the Gallery itself: Where is the national collection of Albanian art?

The Democratic Party is seeking full information on the location of the thousands of works in the national collection, as well as the conditions in which they have been stored and conserved and the measures taken to ensure their security and monitoring during the years the Gallery has been closed.

These are not political questions concerning day-to-day politics. They are basic questions about a public institution, a national asset and a project funded with Albanian citizens’ money.

A National Gallery is not a warehouse for paintings; it is the visual memory of a nation. A government cannot keep this treasure hidden behind scaffolding, delays and lies for five years while issuing new deadlines, tenders and promises.

The Democratic Party demands the full publication of all contracts, tenders, contract addenda, deadlines, cost estimates and payments made for the reconstruction of the National Gallery from 2021 to the present. We are also seeking a final, verifiable date for its reopening.

As a participant in the protests for more than two months, and as an actress not only on stage but also in the resistance against the demolition of the National Theater, I know that the citizens in the square are there for this as well. They are there because of corruption not only in roads, AKSH or the police, but also in art and culture.

Edi Rama must resign over this as well: as a former artist, a former culture minister and the current prime minister who has left the Albanian capital without a National Museum, a National Gallery of Art, a National Theater or a National Circus. Not even the most brutal occupiers did this to Albania.