Tirana mayor Erion Veliaj spoke yesterday on the government’s controversial plan to demolish the National Theatre.
Following the transferral of the National Theatre’s land from the government to the Tirana municipality, Veliaj said that the last finishing touches of the project for a new theater building, designed by Bjarke Engels, were being made. He said that construction work would begin at the end of this year or early next year.
To accusations that he was demolishing a piece of cultural heritage, Veliaj responded that the National Theatre building was never officially a cultural heritage site. This despite the National Theatre being included in Europa Nostra’s 7 Most Endangered European Heritage Sites list of 2020.
Veliaj also claimed that, of all the actors and workers of the National Theatre, only one is opposed to its demolition. He also lamented that when someone tries to do good in Albania, the rug is pulled from underneath them, and went on to blame the previous Democratic government of having cut funding to art and culture, including the National Theatre.
When asked about the possibility of a popular referendum regarding the issue of the National Theater, the mayor called local elections a referendum and swerved into blaming the opposition for boycotting the parliament and elections, seemingly misunderstanding what a referendum means.
