View from the Spac Prison Administration Building (soldiers’ housing in the distance)

Tuesday, May 20

We drove 95 km northeast of Tirana into the mountains.

Palace used for meetings/gatherings

Orthodox church

Spac Prison is at the end of a long, winding, mountain road, and the site of a former copper and pyrite mine. Modeled after Stalin's gulags, it is considered the most notorious of Albania's 50 communist internment camps under Enver Hoxha. Opened in 1968, thousands of prominent Albanian intellectuals deemed "enemies of the people" were exiled here, forced into hard labor, tortured, and died.

Soldiers quarters

Administration Building

Interior: Administration Bldg.

Looking down the valley

Propoganda: "Work makes you free"

We were unable to go into the prisoners’ dormitory or other buildings as they were doing construction around the site to make it into a visit-able tourist destination.

The back side of the prisoners' dormitory

The modern mine (also the site of the older mine)

One of the construction workers speaking with us...

...while our guide, Mario, translates.

Lunch was at a lovely hotel by a river, with the usual abundance of appetizers, followed by meat and potatoes.

Shkodra (70,000 people) is near the Adriatic Coast and the border with Montenegro. Though most of its inhabitants are Muslim and Shkodra was once known as a center of Islamic scholarship, the city retains close ties to Italy through its Roman Catholic minority.

Our first stop was St. Stephen’s Cathedral. During communism it was no longer allowed to be a church and was used, among other things, as a women’s center and a gymnasium. Then after the fall of communism, Pope John Paul II and Mother Theresa came to consecrate the cathedral back to its original purpose.

Venice Art Mask Factory: Here we saw exquisitely detailed Venetian masks designed by renowned Albanian artist Edmond Angoni and fashioned by his team of master artisans. Angoni studied the art of mask-making in Venice, and opened this factory in 1996 to showcase his original designs, each one crafted by hand using traditional techniques. His masks have been featured in theatre and film productions all over the world. We were not allowed to take pictures in the art studio, only in the gallery shop.