The Pyramid (Piramida)

The pyramid, as it’s popularly known, opened in 1988 as a museum dedicated to the recently deceased Albanian dictator-cum-pharaoh Enver Hoxha. Designed by Hoxha’s daughter Pranvera, the building was reportedly the most expensive ever constructed in Albania. After the regime collapsed, the place became a conference centre and location of a club (called The Mummy, of course). Now semi-derelict, the government wants to demolish it to make way for new parliament buildings, although a healthy debate about the destruction of the past and preservation of the park it stands in is ongoing. In front of the building, the Peace Bell installation dates from 1999 as a memorial to peace by the children of Shkodra. The metal for the bell came from thousands of bullet cartridges fired off during the lawless 1990s.