Bunk’Art: Dealing with the legacy of Albania’s communist regime

This article by Twyla Pittson first appeared in Balkan Diskurs on April 3, 2026. An edited version is being republished on Global Voices under a content partnership agreement with the Post-Conflict Research Center (PCRC). Bunk’Art Museums 1 and 2, located inside two atomic bunkers commissioned by Albania’s former communist dictator Enver Hoxha, aim to educate visitors on Albania’s 20th century history and the victims of the totalitarian regime. Established by Italian journalist Carlo Bollino, the two museums have redefined how Albanians confront their communist past. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the opening of Bunk’Art 2, which opened two years after the debut of Bunk’Art 1. The two museums have become popular historical and cultural landmarks among tourists and locals alike, not only because of their exhibits but also because of the way in which the bunkers have been repurposed. Together, they offer different yet equally important insights into Albania’s past under Hoxha’s harsh rule; to some, they even serve as important tools in confronting this painful and difficult legacy. Reception and debates Since their openings, Bunk’Art 1 and 2 have sparked a range of reactions, prompting ongoing debate about their value and effectiveness as educational tools. In 2015, protests erupted over the construction of an artificial dome that would mark the entrance of the then unfinished Bunk’Art 2. As the vast majority of the bunkers were built completely underground, the purpose of the artificial dome was to create a visual entrance for visitors. Soon, however, protests organized by Albanian opposition parties resulted in damage to the dome after demonstrators hit and set fire to it, leaving numerous cracks in its façade. In addition to physical protests, some have spoken out against institutions like Bunk’Art, alleging that repurposing the bunkers is not an attempt to confront the past but rather, to whitewash Albania’s Stalinist history. Bollino, the museums’ founder and artistic director, has maintained that the accusations leveled at Bunk’Art originate from a “small minority that wished to hide the history of communism, and who indeed accused me and my museums of attempting to stay rooted in the past.” He has consistently refuted such claims, arguing that “cultivating memory is essential to prevent history’s horrors from being repeated.” Even academics have weighed in on the debate, utilizing theoretical frameworks to understand why some reject Bunk’Art and, more broadly, the use of bunkers as educational tools and cultural landmarks. According to some frameworks, these bunkers represent “difficult and undesirable heritage” that divides public opinion and is not easily ignored. Such sentiments, which are still prevalent in some quarters, may be attributed to transformations in the physical landscape that occurred after the fall of the regime. Monuments and military buildings were defaced, vandalized, and removed from public settings, preventing an open, society-wide discussion about the traumas of the recent past, and making the confrontation process difficult. For some Albanians, remembering experiences endured under the regime may be too painful to initiate a healing process; for others, as Bollino contends, it may be their wish to bury the country’s communist history altogether. In this regard, Albania suffers from a near-complete lack of memory politics, making institutions like Bunk’Art of paramount importance to intellectuals, activists, and the descendants of those who lived under Hoxha’s regime. Bollino believes that for many, Bunk’Art has functioned as a successful educational tool that has helped new generations understand Albania’s past. Explaining that the subject of Albania’s history is “taught rarely and poorly” in schools since communism is still a taboo subject for those who lived through it, he said the museums offer people who did not experience this era the chance to engage with their history. Albania’s communist past Enver Hoxha first came to power in 1941 and ruled Albania until his death in 1985. As a result of his hardline Stalinist communist beliefs, Albania suffered political and economic isolation throughout this period. In 1947, he severed relations with Yugoslavia, believing they had strayed from the path of true socialism. In 1961, Albania and the USSR split over Hoxha’s dislike of Nikita Khrushchev, Stalin’s successor, who was inclined towards communist reform. Albania then briefly aligned with communist China, but this relationship soon ended, leaving Albania completely isolated. Hoxha was famously paranoid, believing that Albania was at risk of invasion from neighboring countries like Greece and Yugoslavia. From the 1960s to the 1980s, at the height of his rule, Hoxha embarked on an ambitious building program of approximately 173,000 concrete anti-atomic bunkers, intended to house every Albanian family in case of invasion. He sank billions into this program, bringing the country to the brink of starvation and poverty even as he pursued a policy of economic self-reliance. For the entirety of Hoxha’s dictatorship, the country lived in constant fear of foreign invasion and internal surveillance. Bunk’Art’s origins, exhibitions, and preservation challenges Following the collapse of the regime in 1991, land privatization reform resulted in less available land and higher building costs, which drove the population to repurpose the bunkers to suit their growing needs. Since then, Albanians have used bunkers for a variety of purposes, including as tattoo studios, nightclubs, and restaurants. The Bunk’Art museums, however, represent perhaps the most daring bunker adaptation. Although Bollino has lived in Albania since 1993 and has citizenship, he believes that “a sensitive history like that of the dictatorship can be better told by a somewhat ‘outside’ witness who did not experience it personally.” His concept for Bunk’Art was inspired by a newspaper column on the history of communism in Albania, in a publication that he started in 1993. The column “shared with the public for the first time the archives which had been kept a secret until then.” For Bollino, Bunk’Art 1 and 2 are a natural continuation of the historical account that began more than 20 years ago. Bunk’Art 1 opened in 2014 as a video museum exhibition inside Hoxha’s personal bunker. Today, the museum houses two exhibitions: the first is a historical exhibition comprising five areas that explore Albania’s history from the early to mid-20th century; the second focuses on Hoxha’s living spaces, including his office, bedroom, and bathroom. Bunk’Art 2, opened in November 2026, is located in the center of Tirana and was previously only accessible through a tunnel from the Ministry of Interior Affairs. The bunker’s construction was ordered by Hoxha and then prime minister Mehmet Shehu, who both died before its completion. Bunk’Art 2 is therefore primarily focused on the victims of Albania’s communist regime and the perpetrators — the Sigurimi or secret police, who controlled the population and groomed civilians to spy on their friends and family. The most difficult preservation challenge the museums have faced is the erosion of materials due to high humidity in the bunkers. While this requires daily maintenance by staff, Bollino emphasized that the large number of daily visitors makes these efforts worthwhile. In an effort to enrich the visitor experience, the museums release audio guides with additional content. While no new Bunk’Art museums are planned, Bollino described the two spaces as continually “in progress.” He is currently working on new ideas for exploring Albania’s past to fill the rooms that are currently empty. Despite its challenges, Bunk’Art has been celebrated by civilians, activists, and academics alike as an opportunity to work through decades of suppressed trauma. By transforming these once-feared sites — associated with isolation and atrocity — into places of remembrance and education, the museums offer Albania a path towards reckoning, while fostering a deeper understanding of its history.