Albania Urged to Save Iconic 1920s Bridge From Collapse

Two organisations, Europa Nostra and the European Investment Bank Institute, on Monday released a technical report urging Albania to save an endangered bridge built in 1927 under Albania's first and last king. Zog.

The report highlighted an "urgent need to stabilise and rehabilitate" the "Zogu bridge", which in March 2022 was listed amongst seven endangered heritage sites in Europe, but suffered further damage in November that year from heavy floods.

Europa Nostra, in a press release, noted that the bridge was already "dramatically damaged" when it was listed but the floods had damaged it even more.

"Zogu's Bridge was in poor shape when it was included on the list of the 7 Most Endangered in March 2022 but its condition got dramatically worse following a large flood in November 2022, when a pier supporting the bridge subsided much further, creating a serious risk of collapse," it noted.

"Both facts helped to accelerate the authorities' response and serious efforts are now being made to save the bridge from collapse and then to rehabilitate it," it added.

The report was created on the basis of an expert mission to Albania undertaken between February 6 and 11.

The Zogu Bridge was built in 1927 during the reign of Albania's then monarch and was granted the status of a first category Cultural Monument. It is deemed special because of the length and style of its steel arches. At the time of its construction, it was one of the main roads that connected central and northern Albania. Europa Nostra has deemed it "a masterpiece of civil engineering from the early 20th century in the Balkans".

For years, environmentalists and defenders of cultural heritage rang alarm bells that the excavators extracting gravel from the Mat...