00:00 It's got what it takes to become the new landmark of Albania's capital Tirana, the
00:08 pyramid at the heart of the city.
00:11 Every day, hundreds of locals and tourists climb up it and enjoy the view from the top.
00:17 "It's wonderful here.
00:21 I'm usually not good at climbing, but I made it up here."
00:24 "It would be great if there were an elevator up here for us old people."
00:30 "It's totally changed here.
00:32 I still remember what it used to look like, but now, really beautiful."
00:38 Because the pyramid was the landmark of Tirana once before, 35 years ago.
00:43 It was inaugurated as the Enver Hoxha Museum and dedicated to the former dictator of Albania.
00:50 Hoxha was a Stalinist whose brutal reign lasted over 40 years.
00:56 Fathas Lubonja was one of tens of thousands of political prisoners at the time.
01:01 The pyramid, he says, was a symbol of oppression and is now a symbol of modern Albania's historical
01:07 ignorance.
01:08 "Look at this nice belvedere.
01:13 You go up and you see Tirana out of it.
01:16 But there is not the s*** of it more.
01:20 And when I mean the s***, I mean the symbol of the dictatorship."
01:26 At home, Lubonja shows us what he means.
01:29 Lubonja's father was a functionary in the Hoxha regime before he fell out of favor.
01:34 The whole family was forced to atone.
01:36 "We were accused for agitation and propaganda against the regime, four people, and we were
01:41 arrested and the family was sent in deportation."
01:46 Lubonja was a prisoner of the Hoxha regime for 17 years.
01:49 He spent most of this time doing forced labor in the notorious Spac prison.
01:54 "This is a remaining of a light, to make light, a lamp.
02:04 We used it in the mine, you know."
02:11 Much was like a Stalinist gulag, hell on earth, survival under inhuman conditions.
02:19 Almost all books were strictly forbidden, apart from dictionaries, which Lubonja used
02:24 to hide something that would later make him famous.
02:27 His first book, written on cigarette paper during his incarceration, in miniature script.
02:38 Lubonja is now a writer and artist, and a critical voice in Albania.
02:42 In his view, the renovated pyramid is an attempt to erase the dark history of communism in
02:48 Albania.
02:49 "No one can, among the young generation, come here and find a trace of the past."
02:59 Quite the opposite, says architect Genti Agoli.
03:02 While planning the new pyramid, the Dutch architects in charge were always concerned
03:07 with making the past visible.
03:11 The most important change is found on the stairs.
03:15 "People should feel like they are conquering the pyramid, symbolically opposing communism
03:24 and dictatorship."
03:25 Again and again, the building's history is revealed in various places.
03:37 "This is the old part that is only painted and it's rough to show the history of the
03:45 building."
03:46 In the new pyramid, everything revolves around the future.
03:50 Colorful cubes built into the vast space house the TUMO Center for Creative Technology.
03:57 Young people can learn to implement their ideas here using state-of-the-art technology.
04:02 Anyone can take part here.
04:04 And it's free.
04:06 "I've already done a few introductory courses at TUMO and I think I'll continue.
04:12 I see my future in technology."
04:15 Tutors also lend a helping hand.
04:18 In the workshop next door, a project is nearing completion.
04:22 And it's not about computer games, but about Albania's dark past.
04:27 "This is a graphic design class at TUMO and we're working on a project about Spac' prison."
04:38 A project about, of all things, the prison where Fatos Lubonja was held.
04:43 Perhaps Albanian youth are not as oblivious to history as he fears.
04:46 "It's important to understand how was it, how was created this evil and how we suffered
04:56 it so much because of this evil, how, in order not to repeat it, as I said."
05:05 Something they seem to be working on in the new pyramid.
05:08 [MUSIC PLAYING]
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