Academy of Albanological Studies


The Academy of Albanological Studies is the main institution of albanology in Albania.

History

The Academy of Albanological Studies started as part of the reconstruction and modernization of the Albanian academical and university system. The decision was taken by the Albanian Government in August 2007. It derived from joining the four existing institutions: Institute of Archaeology, Institute of Linguistics and Literature, Institute of History, and Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Art Studies, with two research units: Art Studies and Albanian Encyclopedia which used to belong Albanian Academy of Sciences.
The Centre was reorganized on 10 March 2008 as a scientific research institute and received the status of the inter-university organ. It inherited the staff of specialist and a rich archive of a high importance. Along the research in the fields of history, archaeology, cultural anthropology, art study, linguistics, literature, etc., part of its work focus is the investigation, evaluation, conservation, and promotion of the material and spiritual inheritance of the Albanian culture, both past and present. It is one of the core albanology institutes in overall. It also offers master and PhD courses and studies on all the fields that the institute covers.

Institutes

Institute of Archaeology

The scientific work on archaeology in Albanian started after World War II, when all the cultural and historical valuable entities were placed under state protection. The first institution of this nature was the Archaeological-Ethnographic Museum, established in Tirana in 1948. With the establishment of the Institute of History and Linguistics in 1955, a Archaeology Section was also created. It handled archaeological research and studies countrywide. In 1976, the section was transformed into the Centre of Archaeological Research, as part of the Academy of Sciences, with threes scientific sectors: prehistory, Illyrian antiquity, and Middle Age. Eight scientific groups were established in various towns of the country. In 1992, the centre gained the "institute" status and became the Institute of Archaeology.
Its main activities consist of excavations and archaeological studies throughout the Albanian territory, and the scientific and methodical direction of the archaeologic museum that it has under its jurisdiction, in Tirana, Durrës, Apollonia, Butrint, and Korçë. Structurally, the institute contains the following departments: Department of Prehistory, Department of Antiquity, and Department of Late Antiquity and Middle Age.
Directors:
Periodicals:
The institute traces its origin in the Institute of Albanian Studies of April 1940. In 1946, the Institute of Scientific Research took over, and was renamed in 1948 to Institute of Sciences. As its activity spread, it split in 1955 as the Institute of History and Linguistics. In 1972, the history and linguistics-literature section split, each creating its own institute as part of the Academy of Sciences.
The main objective of its scientific-research work is the Albanian language and literature. In the field of linguistics, the institute focuses on studying the Albanian dialects, their current status and historical transgression, compilation of scientific grammars, technical terminology dictionaries, study on standard Albanian language, language norms, and language related culture. In the field of literature, it focuses on studying the historical development of the Albanian literature, bibliographies on the life and work of its prominent protagonists, compilation of generalizing literary-historical work, and scientific-critical publications on the classics of the Albanian literary tradition.
The archive conserved manuscripts on the old Albanian texts, documentary materials, and monographs on linguistic and literary-historical works, published or not. The library conserved over 50,000 volumes and a huge number of periodical issues. The file archive contains 3 million lexical files.
Directors:
Periodicals:
The institute started as a scientific-research institute in 1972. The first attempts for establishing such institute had started in April 1940. After World War II, the Institute of Albanian Studies, was established in 1946, comprising the sections of history and sociology. Other departments were added on the way: archaeology, ancient history, medieval history, recent history, medieval art, ethnography, and other linguistic-literary sections which were all included under the Institute of History and Linguistics in 1955. With the establishment of the University of Tirana in 1957, the institute was placed under UT's umbrella. With the establishment of the Academy of Sciences in 1972, the sections related to history went apart and formed the Institute of History. During the '70s, the section of ethnography and archaeology split from it and became independent parallel institutes.
The institute's main focus is on:
Its main activities dedicate the departmental structure as well, based on epochs:
The institute contains a huge archive of documents and monographs, most of them provided by foreign archives worldwide. Its library contains 70,000 copies of books and magazines on Albannological studies, the second in Albania after the National Library.
Directors:
Periodicals:
The institute started in 1979 as a merge project between the Institute of Folklore and the Ethnography section of the Institute of History. It was under the umbrella of the Academy of Sciences and was named Institute of Folkloric Culture. The Institute of Folklore itself had started in 1961, based on the Folklore Section of the former "Institute of Studies" of 1947. The Ethnography Section was established in 1947 as well. In 2008, a special structure focusing in art studies was added, thus resulting in the current "Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Art Studies".
Its activity covers field research, collection, registration of different genres of ethno-folklore, archiving and filing, studies, publication of periodicals and scientific resumes, publishing of monographs and collections of materials, illustrative publishing, and in particular publishing the "Albanian Cultural Heritage" series.
In the beginning, its work focused on collection the Albanian material cultural pieces in the terrain; collection of songs, dances, musical instruments, prose and poetry, etc. As a result, the first six archives were created: the archive of the objects and material culture, the archive of written ethnography, photothèque, sketch archive, archive of music, and the written folklore archive. The archive of the objects and material culture conserves c. 33 thousand objects representing various fields of life as agriculture, animal husbandry, crafts, folkloric art, traditional dresses, ornaments, work tools, etc. The archive of written ethnography conserves material noted by the researches during expeditions, materials and notes provided by the foreign collaborators, translations from the original materials of former travelers and researches during their expedition in Albania, etc. The photothèque conserves over 22 thousand photo negatives and dispositives in different media depicting traditional dresses since the start of the 20th century, fragments from work, various ceremonies, folkloric activities, etc. The sketch archive conserves over 3500 sketches and planimetries of traditional home environment and constructions. The music archive conserves over 35 thousand songs, melodies, dances, and ceremonials, while the archive of written folklore conserves over 1.5 million verses, and around 200 thousand pages of folkloric prose.
Another field of its activity is the organisation of folkloric activities, the establishment of the ethnography museums, and ethnographic exhibits. A considerable number of exhibits have been have gove through in Greece, Romania, Hungary, Italy, France, Austria, Nordic countries, former Soviet Union countries, China, etc.
Directors:
Periodicals:
The Academic Senate as of 2015: