Marble woman's head

 

Marble woman's head 

 

My Friday started a little differently last week. Instead of just lying in my couch after classes I went to two of the most important cultural institutions a state can have.

Sometimes, living close to a cultural institution you might take it for granted and not enjoy it. As did I, unfortunately, but this was not the case a few days ago.

Visiting The National Museum and The National Gallery of Kosovo was truly captivating. The National Museum of Prishtina showed me visually Kosovo in Centuries. The first floor being “Archeological Kosovo” and the second floor “History of Kosovo”.

The first floor was quite interesting with the Illyrian coins, dishes, weapons, statues, and clothes being broadcasted from various years. In spite of that, one specific thing that I would mention, is one statue. The statue that stood out to me was “Marble woman’s head”. To me, that statue represented all the strong, resilient, and fearless women of our state.

However, if we consider it in general the most interesting to me was the second floor that showed the history of Kosovo throughout the years. In the left side of the floor, was a big compartment with a considerable glassy table, inside sitting was The Declaration of Independence of our warrior state. Surrounding The Declaration were the flags of the states that have recognized Kosovo which made me feel eternally proud.

Comparing the first and the second floor resulted in having mixed feelings of sadness and happiness. On the first floor, I had the physical evidence of how the people of my country fought so hard for independence. The weapons, the clothes they wore, and the dishes they used to use for providing victuals. You could say the first floor was proof solely of how we fought for our lives. The exact opposite was embodied just upstairs. The second floor had the evidence of the autonomy of my state. It consisted of The Declaration, the flags of the states that recognized us, the pen, glasses of our former President, the newspapers summarized in a gigantic book, and a copywriting machine. Two entirely different periods of time, but both important. I felt proud comparing how we used to be and how we are today and how far we have come. You could see it too. The only thing dividing those periods of time for you are just a couple of stairs.   

Following my visit of The Museum was The National Gallery of Kosovo. The exhibition of Ardian Isufi “THE CONSPIRACY OF TIRANA” was exposed to the public. Displayed were beautiful and attractive pieces trying to demonstrate how art is now contingent to network. However, certain pieces didn’t have a description of what they were, so I had to come up with interpretations of them by myself, since I didn’t know what the author meant by unveiling them. Contrary to this experience, was a dark room down the hallway. A unique instrument used here were videos replaying, but with enough volume to be heard on the entire floor. The video consisted of two people having a dialogue on how art is now contingent to network. Nevertheless, in contrast to the visit I had at the museum, the gallery did not transmit strong feelings. Firstly, because such powerful feelings I had at the museum by seeing the proof of resilience of my state could never be topped. Second, because it felt like I didn’t really learn since some pieces didn’t have an explanation. Nevertheless, it was a good experience overall and I am happy I got to see his unique work.

 

As stated, I visited The National Museum of Prishtina and The National Gallery of Kosovo, both were interesting, but The Museum left me dealing with mixed emotions and more fascinated than The Gallery.