Born in 1938 as an "Italian-Albanian club", the building that now houses the National Theatre was one of the first architectural interventions by Italians in Albania. The goal of the future occupiers – Italy invaded the country only in April 1939, after several years of economic and cultural penetration – was to monumentalise the centre of the capital, favouring fascist propaganda and more generally relations between the two countries.

Designed by architect Giulio Bertè a few steps away from what is still today Skanderbeg Square, the building was to be a large cultural and sports center, containing a cinema, swimming pool, and various dining areas. Since 1947 this structure has housed the main theatrical centre of Albania: the 430-seat hall of the National Theatre along with other smaller ones of the Experimental Theatre Kujtim Spahivogli, the last one inaugurated only last December. All this seems not to suffice for the Albanian authorities, who have announced the demolition.1

For the Albanian authorities, the building – which unfortunately over the years has undergone partial and inadequate maintenance – has suddenly become unaccessible, with the short construction time and the material used at the time making restoration futile. If the debate has raged for months, socialist premier Edi Rama intervened only a few days ago, to claim that he has followed the polemics "without particular attention" and state that the building "does not even have the standards of a municipal theatre" and that demolition is not negotiable.

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• 1. According to a 2008 research by the Bari Polytechnical Institute  , the building was made with prefabricated material in Milan – an experimental cement mixed with poplar fibers and algae, to be framed in a broader context of experiences between the two world wars. Known with the commercial name "populit", the building material was widely used until the 1970s. Today, the construction technique has ended up under accusation, leaving a halo of sudden danger around the building.