Marubi National Museum of Photography Claimed

The National Museum of Photography ‘Marubi’ was established as an absolute need to identify and promote the photographic archive created by the Marubi Dynasty and other city of Shkodra photographers, a cultural heritage unique in its kind.

At the center of the museum project is the legacy of the ‘Photo-Studio Marubbi’, founded in 1856 by Pietro Marubbi, an Italian painter and photographer who came and settled in Shkodra at the time. The activity of the studio over the years, was directed and enriched by three generations of photographers, until the early 1950s, time when Gegë Marubi was forced to give oneself up to the communist collective anonymity, by joining other photographers in the photography unit of the former Repair-Services Cooperative.

In 1970 was founded the Marubi Photo-Studio with around 500,000 negatives in various techniques and formats. Later on, historical images from the archive were (in many cases) used to feed the communist propaganda machine. It was during this period that many of them appeared in the editions of the time manipulated and alienated.

The archive was founded in 1970 following a process of nationalization of all private properties initiated by the communist state. Gegë Marubi was appointed as person in charge of the Marubi Phototeque. He undertook a process of cataloguing and registration of the whole photography material made up by more than 500.000 negatives and including the work of 18 photographers, mostly from Shkodra.

The collection depicts important historical events and proves to record the first traces of the Albanian photographs. Various techniques have been used through the year: from the wet-collodion to the gelatin dry process, planfilms, infrared photography and celluloid roll films.

Part of the preserved materials are different artefacts such as the old registers of the photographers, albums, technical equipments used in the private studios prior to the nationalization.

All funds are preserved in the museum spaces in an infrastructure with appropriate conservation parametres for the various artefacts.

The online archive counts 51.000 images available for users, around 10% of the photography material of the Marubi National Museum of Photography archive. The digitalization work is ongoing.