The historical importance of the "School of Albanians" in Venice

 

 "Scuola degli albanesi", (School of Albanians), founded in Venice (Venice-Italy), by Albanian emigrants at around the years 1500-1504, was attended by the children of Albanian families settled in Venice and Istria.

The works of the two Albanian humanists Marin Beçikemi and Marin Barleti were used as textbooks in these schools. The first was also a teacher in this school. While the Albanian school, with historical values ​​in the field of art, was built with the contributions of the Fraternity of Albanian exiles in Venice, which was quite organized at that time. In addition to the humanists we mentioned above, other humanists such as Viktor Karpaçi (1455-1525), Mark Bazaiti (1460-1530) and Nikollë Leonik Tomeu (1456-1531) were part of this brotherhood.

 

Viktor Karpaçi worked as an architect and sculptor of the Albanian School building. He decorated its facades with "basorilieves" that represent aspects of the Albanian people's struggle for freedom, the traces of which have existed until recently and may still be present today. The Albanian school, which was established for the needs of emigrants in the Republic of Venice, during its activity from 1442 to the end of the 18th century, not only played an important role in raising the most diverse cadres but it is also distinguished by the artistic values ​​that its building possessed. Viktor Karpaçi, an Albanian painter from the Korça district, who was undoubtedly one of the most prominent artists of the European Renaissance, had great merit in this aspect.

 

The school was built under his supervision, and the facade and interior of the Albanian school were decorated during the turn of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century. A special place in his very rich opus is occupied by the paintings he made for the school of his brothers, which are kept in the biggest museums in the world.

As a 16th-century school, "Scuola degli Albanesi", in addition to its historical and artistic importance, also has pedagogical importance. Keeping it standing for a long time proves that the exiled Albanians, forming a whole and being organized, not only felt the need to open an institution for the education of their children, but also that they inherited a certain tradition, that they had the economic, organizational and cultural strength to sustain it. It also has special value in terms of the level of development of professional education at that time.

The Arbër-Venetian relations date back at least from the c. XI. From this time the Republic of Venice, after it had developed the state, the economic power and owned almost the entire eastern coast of the Adriatic and most of the islands of Byzantium, i.e. also some coastal cities of Arberia, its center had become not only a meeting place for many emigrants but also a way for the affirmation of their cultures in the culture of the European Renaissance. This is where, according to the emigrants who settled here were called six roads, "Calle degli Albanesi". This also according to the ARbër community, which was distributed in areas such as Castello, San Croce, San Polo, Cannaregio, and San Marco. Toponyms related to the generous Zguri family, settled here from the turn of the century, were also placed in the San Marco area. Their palace is located in Saint Maurice Square, very close to the School building. In front of this palace, on this square, at the edge of the school in question, is the Molin Palace, the property of Gjergj Kastriot-Skënderbeu, which was given to him by the Republic on the occasion of his declaration as an honorary citizen of Venice.

We encounter the biggest waves of emigration to Venice from the time of the Stefan Dušan invasions (1331-1355), and especially from the time of the Ottoman invasions (1385-1571). In addition to Venice and the surrounding islands, we also meet arboreal emigrants in Ancona, Rimini, Pesaro, Vicenza, Padua, Treviso, etc. Arbërs from Tivari, Shasi, Ulqini, Shkodra, Lezha, Durrësi, Drishti, Novobërda, etc. For all these arrivals from the cities in question, the appellation Albanian is used in everyday perception as well as in official Venetian documents, during October 1442, in the parish of San Severo in the eastern part of the area of ​​the city called Castello, had founded the Arbër School or "Scuola degli Albanesi". It is about a type of small school (Le scuole piccole), the number of which was large. The school in question was a kind of national center for arts, crafts and craftsmen. We also consider it to be the first religious center where services were held in Arberian languages. Its organization is based on small schools of the city. Here, it had this structure: Banca, Gastaldo (or guardiano), Vicario, Scrivano, and Degani.

Arbër School in its beginnings was dedicated to "Our Lady of Good Counsel", also called "Nostra Signora di Scutari", as well as "Saint Gal". Since 1447, the seat of the school had been transferred to the parish of San Maurizio, in the area of ​​Saint Mark, part of the city center. Due to the increase in the number of Arber emigrants, Venetian authority from the turn of the XV century gives them the right to use the cemetery in the well-known Dominican basilica SS Giovanni e Paolo, where many graves of the Arbër brotherhood are still preserved today.

 

The school building, which today is considered among the tourist attractions of Venice, was erected between the church of Saint Maurice and the bell tower, which can be easily seen even today.

 

From the visual-architectural point of view, two windows on the first floor attract attention, a slab reinforced by Istrian stone with a magnificent bas-relief depicting the motif of the "Siege of Shkodra" (1474 - 1478-1479), which can still be seen today it reads well. There, apart from the confirmation and importance of the city of Shkodra in the Venetian policy on the Adriatic and the Mediterranean, can be seen the importance of the emigrants from Shkodra in the history of exile in the Republic of Venice.

 Vittore Carpaccio, School of the Albanians, miracle of the Flowering Rod

The Arbër School was active until 1780, the confraternity was dissolved in this year and the building passed into the hands of the corporation dei Pistori. Many valuable furnishings and furnishings would be sold or lost. 43 paintings were also preserved in the school hall. Six of them are the pictures of Karpaçi.