Marubi Photography Museum

Pietro Marubi, an Italian who settled in Shkoder, opened a photographic studio in 1856 and took what is generally reckoned the first photograph made in Albania in 1858, and the business passed to his assistant and then through the Kodheli family, who took the Marubi name and ran it for three generations into the twentieth century. The archive they left runs to around half a million negatives on glass and film, documenting northern Albanian life across a century: highland clansmen in traditional dress, weddings, funerals, town families, political figures and street scenes. The museum, rebuilt and reopened in 2016, shows a rotating selection with the original cameras and equipment, and it is among the more interesting collections in the country.

What you actually see

• The first photograph taken in Albania - Marubi's image of 1858.
• Half a million glass and film negatives - a century of northern Albanian life.
• Highland dress portraits - clansmen photographed in the studio.
• Original studio cameras - the equipment three generations worked with.

When to go

Year round; it is indoors. Two hours. Closed on some Mondays. Displays rotate from the archive, so the content changes. It is central and easy to combine with a walk in the old town.

Honest expectations

Only a small selection of the archive is shown at any time. The museum is small for the ticket price. Photography inside is restricted. Labelling is better in Albanian than English.

Nearby

Kole Idromeno street runs past the door; Rozafa castle lies south-west.