"Arápi i RĂ'os" & Kola Idromeno
Guard of hero Oso Kuka meets brother of artist Kolë Idromeno, c. 1878
The Living Library of Ulcinj
In November 2022, water began seeping through the roof of Ulcinj's public library. The building, which had served as a repository of knowledge for generations, was forced to close its doors. Today, it stands padlocked—its books threatened by moisture, its mission suspended by neglect.
Yet on its walls, four 19th-century photographs endure. These portraits, captured by the legendary Marubi photographic dynasty of Shkodër, represent faces from a vanishing world: Albanian warriors, urban elite, coastal merchants, and highland patriots. Each image is a portal to the complex multicultural history of the southeastern Adriatic.
This digital monument transforms these endangered photographs into living memory. Through interaction and play, we preserve what institutional failure threatens to erase.
Four Portraits on a Wall
These Marubi photographs—arranged in a line on the library wall—depict 'Arápi i RĂ'os' and Kola Idromeno, Hamz Kazazi and his son, Shaqe and Lulme Shkodra, and a woman from Ulcinj. Captured between 1876 and the 1890s, they now hang in the closed library, bearing witness to both historical grandeur and contemporary neglect.
Portraits as Portals
Click each photograph to activate its memory. Every interaction preserves a fragment of history.
Below are digital recreations of the four Marubi photographs from the library wall. Each portrait becomes a portal—click to animate these 19th-century faces with contemporary artistic interpretations. Through playful reimagination, we bridge the gap between their world and ours, creating new memories while preserving the old. Your interactions are collected as digital "books" on the preservation shelf below, building a collaborative monument to these endangered images.
Hamz Kazazi & Son Ali
Highland patriarch and resistance leader from Gjakova, 1876
Shaqe & Lulme Shkodra
Urban elite women in Ottoman-influenced attire, c. 1890s
Woman from Ulcinj
Anonymous coastal woman in traditional folk costume, c. 1880
Preservation Progress
ART SYMPOSIUM 2025
08-13 September • Ulcinj, Montenegro
Part of the international art symposium featuring 30 artists from around the world, exploring themes of memory, identity, and cultural preservation.
K nastanku tega dela - zapisa me je spodbudilo druĹľenje z umetniki na art 2025 symposium Ulcinj in raziskovanje mesteca in njegove kulture in zgodovine.