The Skanderbeg Monument is the proud centrepiece of Skanderbeg Square, a solid bronze reminder that Albania once had a national hero who wasn’t afraid of a bit of a fight. Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg (1405-1468) was a fifteenth century nobleman who ditched the Ottomans after they’d trained him and instead spent decades leading a resistance movement against them. For that, he gets to be put on a horse in Tirana as the nation’s hero and he was also widely respected amongst western nations at the time for helping to slow down the Ottoman expansion into Europe.
The monument itself went up in 1968, marking the 500th anniversary of Skanderbeg’s death. He’s shown on horseback, mid-stride, looking suitably heroic, wearing full armour and clutching a sword. There’s no mistaking the message that this is Albania’s ultimate national symbol, the man who stood up to an empire and inspired a sense of independence that Albanians still cling to today.
The rather hard to read memorial stone by the monument. Of course, because this is Albania, there’s also a bit of irony as the monument was erected during the communist period, when national pride was carefully curated by the regime. Skanderbeg was recast as the people’s freedom fighter rather than the nobleman he actually was, but his importance wasn’t lessened. Enver Hoxha, the corrupt communist leader, ensured that a statue of him was erected as the centrepiece of the square after he died, although that was torn down when communism fell apart. There’s an interesting story about where that statue ended up….