Rooms of Dictatorship

Villa 31: The Home of Albanian Dictator Enver Hoxha

The simple three-storey villa known as Villa 31 was the home of Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha for decades. Even after his death in 1985, his wife continued to reside here for several years. When I photographed Villa 31 in 2017, the furnishings remained largely intact since the Hoxha family left the villa in the early 1990s.

I felt a compelling need to capture these photographs to preserve the interiors, as relocating the items to a museum would strip away the unique atmosphere of the space. The energy of the past enveloped me, creating an intense and eerie experience.

During my 30 years photographing in Albania, I have encountered and even gotten to know many descendants of the country’s former communist elite. I have also experienced the country’s transition from its first days of democracy until today. These views have come from the outside and have allowed me a different perspective from someone who grew up in the regime or who experienced the before and after firsthand.

Behind the colourful and stylish, for the time, interior, lies a darkness due to the people that lived there- a darkness that makes me shudder. I also recalled that the villa was temporarily used for official dinners with foreign politicians with no changes made to the interior, an example how the memory of the Hoxha family, was dealt with.

My unease increased when in 2010, I met former dictator Enver Hoxha’s wife, Nexhmije Hoxha and took her portrait. The picture I took went down in Albanian history as I was the first to capture her true character and the dark story she was a protagonist. This woman, even after communism fell, was portrayed in the media as a nice old lady who was able to perfectly explain, justify, and even excuse her part in the murderous tyranny of her husband’s regime.

Following years of debate over what the villa should be used for, it was decided it would be turned into a museum, and it is currently being renovated. My photos of the villa, untouched and unchanged from the time its previous owners lived there, are a part of history and a testimony to an entire era.