The €40 million EU4Culture programme seeks to address the effect of the country’s November 2019 earthquake through the reconstruction of Albanian cultural heritage damaged by the earthquake.

The list of monuments and sites that EU4Culture will focus on will be the result of consultations and a thorough assessment with the authorities and Albania’s cultural heritage community. It will include museums, such as the Archaeological Museum and the National Gallery of Arts in Tirana, and other important sites such as the Durrës Amphitheatre, castles and religious monuments.

Three municipalities, among Albania’s key tourist destinations, will benefit from the EU funding – Tirana, Durrës and Kruja. The support will be based on the needs identified in a Post-Disaster Needs Assessment. The programme will involve and support local communities with grants, will adopt international and EU standards, will provide technical support to Albanian institutions, and will use the “Build Back Better” approach.

On the occasion of the signing ceremony of the new EU4Culture programme, the EU Ambassador to Albania, Luigi Soreca, said: “EU4Culture is one of the largest ever cultural heritage programmes designed by the European Union in terms of number of monuments and of funds involved. Helping preserve Albania’s heritage is an economic chance, a common responsibility, but also a moral and historical duty towards previous and future generations of Europeans.”

Over the next four years, the EU4Culture programme will be implemented in close coordination and collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and other stakeholders at the national and local level, promoting the ownership and sustainability of the investment.