The Pyramid of Tirana is a concrete example of positive changes in Albania and of turning a symbol of the dark past into a source of light and inspiration for the future.

Zylyftar Bregu

The Pyramid of Tirana will welcome the main leaders of the EU and the Balkans on Monday. From a personal museum of the communist dictator of Albania, Enver Hoxha, it is now being transformed into a center of balance and progress for Albanian youth and a forum where the most important leaders of Europe meet to discuss the future of the region.

The Dictator’s Pyramid, otherwise known as the Pyramid, has been a symbol of a dark period of isolation and repression that dominated Albania for decades. The building had served as a place for exhibitions and tributes to a dictator who described himself as the “father of the people,” but in fact held in its shadow the suffering and sacrifices of Albanians under the communist regime.

Today, the Pyramid is the first in a series of positive transformations for Albania. Dutch architect Winy Maas has been involved in a project to save the building and has given it new, healthy and inspiring life. It will serve as a computer training center where young people will learn technology and coding skills, opening the light of their knowledge and skills in a digitized world.

Tirana starts a new wind in the digital age after Paris, Berlin and Yerevan. The Municipality of Tirana in cooperation with the Albanian-American Foundation for Development (AADF) opened in the grounds of the “Arena Kombëtare” stadium, TUMO Tirana, the largest technology center that aims to equip young people with the knowledge of the 21st century offering curricula in the field of innovation and art.

In the welcoming speech, which was also attended by Prime Minister Edi Rama, Mayor Erion Veliaj stated that this initiative aims to give children and those who dare, an opportunity to show the whole world today what talent they have.

TUMO Tirana is an after school center for children aged 12-18 who will have the opportunity to discover their passion in 8 different disciplines such as Animation, Graphic Design, Game Development, Film Making, Music, Programming, Robotics, 3D Modeling. While preparing the most important transformation project in the capital, the Pyramid of Tirana, which will also be the permanent home of TUMO Tirana, temporarily TUMO Tirana will operate in the Arena Center.

At TUMO Tirana, children will develop their own personalized learning plan through a virtual platform called TUMO Path, which is designed to adapt to the diverse curriculum. The curriculum enables the creation of personalized learning plans independently, under the supervision of experts and mentors. The curriculum offers the development of workshops and laboratories where students deepen their knowledge and skills in a topic of their choice, work in groups and create their portfolios in the form of projects in 3D modeling, computer programming, robotics, music, etc.

The knowledge that children acquire through courses and curricula help them develop creativity and analytical thinking. During the workshop, each student has a tutor whose role is to follow the child’s participation, encourage him/her to increase performance and guide him/her during the process of exploring the child’s information and creativity.

The Pyramid of Tirana is a concrete example of positive changes in Albania and of turning a symbol of the dark past into a source of light and inspiration for the future. It will be the place where Albanians will develop their technological skills, while at the same time it will be the forum where European leaders will come together to build relationships and discuss the prospects of a united continent.

 

Zylyftar Bregu, is a lecturer at the University of Tirana and a freelance journalist