Pyramid of Tirana, Arts center in central Tirana, Albania
The Pyramid of Tirana is a stepped concrete structure on a paved plaza in central Tirana, Albania, with long staircases climbing its left and right sloped sides to the summit. Its front face is cut into a deep recessed opening holding a glass-walled entrance with coloured panels behind it, above which flat terraces step back toward the top.
The building was completed in 1988 as a museum for former ruler Enver Hoxha, shortly before the end of the communist regime. During the Kosovo conflict in 1999, NATO used the structure as a base, and it later stood empty for years until renovation began in 2018.
The building is also known as the Pjetër Arbnori International Cultural Centre, and its nickname "Enver Hoxha Mausoleum" was never official. Since 2001 part of it has housed the Top Channel and Top Albania Radio studios. Since 2023 it has operated as the TUMO Tirana centre for programming, robotics and start-ups.
Staircases run up both sloped flanks of the concrete structure to the summit, and the stepped facade has been open to the public since May 2023. The building sits on a 17,000-square-metre plot; the paved area around it has served as a parking lot and a minivan station for Elbasan.
The 2010 parliament vote to demolish the Pyramid passed 71 to 64, and a 2011 competition won by Vienna office Coop Himmelb(l)au proposed a 110-million-euro replacement that was never built. Historian Ardian Klosi's petition of about 6,000 signatures helped stop the demolition.
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