National Theater of Albania, National performing arts venue in central Tirana, Albania.
The National Theatre of Albania was a mauve-painted building with a flat roof, its central pale stone pillar bearing the vertically stacked letters "TEATRI KOMBETAR". Tall arched windows with dark mullions flanked the pillar above dark green double doors set in pale stone frames. Italian architect Giulio Berté designed it, completed in September 1939; the building was demolished on 17 May 2020.
The building opened in September 1939 as the Italian-Albanian Circle "Scanderbeg", designed by Giulio Berté and built by the firm Pater. After the Italian capitulation it became the Kosova cinema, and on 24 May 1945 it was inaugurated as the Professional Theater of the State. Renamed People's Theater, it took the name National Theater in June 1991 and was demolished on 17 May 2020.
The building opened as the Italo-Albanian circle "Scanderbeg", a cultural, artistic, sports and entertainment centre with a library and translation office. After the Italian capitulation it was renamed Kinema "Kosova", and from 1945 it housed the Professional Theatre of the State, later the People's and National Theatre. Its facade carried the letters "TEATRI KOMBETAR" on a pale stone pillar between arched windows.
The building no longer stands: it was demolished on 17 May 2020, so there is nothing to visit at the original site. The company moved to a temporary venue, ArTurbina, on Sami Frashëri Street in Tirana. Look for the mauve facade with the pale stone pillar lettered "TEATRI KOMBETAR" in photographs of the lost building.
The building was the only futuristic design by Italian architect Giulio Berté, built 1938–1939 for the Italo-Albanian "Scanderbeg" circle. Its walls used "Populit" panels of mineralized wood fibre in high-strength concrete, insulating against heat and sound. The complex also held Albania's first swimming pool in an atrium.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,685 contributors worldwide.