About

Pietro Marubi arrived in Shkodër from Piacenza in 1856 as a political exile and set up the first photographic studio in Albania. He trained Kel Idromeno, then adopted a young apprentice, Kel Marubi, who took his name and continued the studio. A third generation, Gegë Marubi, ran it through the communist period.

Together the three photographed Shkodër's merchant families, highland chieftains arriving in traditional dress, market days, religious processions, street life and the gradual physical transformation of the city across nearly a century. The archive holds around half a million glass-plate negatives and prints, many of them the only visual record of a world that no longer exists.

The current museum on Kolë Idromeno opened in 2016 after a major renovation, with a permanent exhibition drawn from the archive alongside a programme of temporary shows. Open every day until 19:00. The best museum in Shkodër and one of the genuinely important photography collections in southeastern Europe.

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