When reading the newest issue of Art & Trashëgimi, (Art & Heritage), the 200-page Albanian English-language quarterly, one cannot just flip through it, one really needs to peruse it in order to grasp the full wealth of its content.

The first issue came out in April 2011. Each of the issues is dedicated to one Albanian city rich in art, history, traditions, customs and values or to a major cultural, historical or archaeological centre or figure. The city of Berat, which is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List, was the focus of the first issue. The second issue features Gjirokastra, an oasis of ethnographical wealth.  

Ilda Mara, director of Art & Trashëgimi, is responsible for the magazine’s cooperation with the Centre of Albanian Studies.  

“I am so happy that my colleagues and I managed to offer to the Albanian and foreign readers a taste of art, history, poetry, and of the indomitable and everlasting spirit of Albania,” Mara told Southeast Europe: People and Culture. According to her, this publication filled the void for an elite publication on art and heritage, which had been missing on the market.

Art & Trashëgimi issues an invitation to all readers to get out and enjoy the best of Albania’s art, history and nature, as presented by the camera of the German photographer, Jutta Benzenberg.

Mara’s desire to immerse herself into this project was fuelled by the need to promote the cultural heritage and build bridges between her country and Europe. As a graduate of the Institute of Political Studies of Paris, Mara was interested in researching the socio-political and economic changes in the Southeast European region and in the Balkans.

“It was this research which helped me to realise that culture was the starting point to attain security and peace in the Balkans. We can discuss for a long time about politics but at the end of the day, we are brought together by some common Balkans dishes or a glass of raki (a strong brandy) from Serbia, Albania or Greece,” she said.

This acknowledgement encouraged Mara to found the Argjiro organisation in France in 2006 and in Albania one year later. This institution aims to develop international cultural exchanges between Albania, south-eastern Europe and the Mediterranean countries. For the past five years, this Franco-Albanian organisation held “Musical Encounters between the Two Worlds” in Albania, which was a festival designed to be a crossroad for the entire Balkan region. This annual festival is staged at the castle of Gjirokastra, which is called Argjiro.

“This festival is unique in Albania not only because it involves an important mainstay of art and culture, namely music, but also because it especially focuses on a combination of classical music with traditional music,” Mara said.  Forums on cultural dialogue, conferences and other events are also regularly held at the festival.

Finding herself in the middle of all this, Mara was constantly struggling to make her dream of producing a top-quality magazine on art and culture a reality.  Mara fit the bill as the person to carry this project out, given her journalistic background. She started her career in Paris in 1997 at the French weekly Courier International as a journalist responsible for Albania, Kosovo* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, where she worked until 2008. She also continues to collaborate with the French quarterly Politique Internationale, and has been engaged for several years as a consultant for UNESCO.

Irina Bokova, the UNESCO Director-General, rolled out this publication. After highlighting the two sites included on the UNESCO World Heritage List (Butrint and the historic centres of Berat and Gjirokastra), Bokova addressed the readers: “These sites embody the essence of world heritage and UNESCO welcomes every opportunity to support Albania and its society in sustaining this powerful bridge between the past and the future.”