"...and the walls came tumbling down..."

Total neglect of this historic home (The Koloi House) led to its collapse last Sunday afternoon, Dec 14th… and there are countless others in the same condition just waiting to fall...

About two weeks ago I took a minute (from my oh so busy schedule) to take pictures of this abandoned house that stood two minutes walk down the hill from where I live. What made this house special? To me it represented another piece of the potential that I see all over Gjirokastёr – a beautiful structure left to the ravages of time and neglect. It had a very hansome arched doorway. At some point there was a roof and a second floor (evidenced by the charred remains of the wooden support beams). People were using the open doors and windows as a place to dump their garbage… After walking past this house almost twice a day for the past seven months, I began to realize how much I liked it, how much character it maintained even in its damaged state, and decided I should take some pictures. Now I’m really glad I did – because it collapsed and is completely ruined.




The abandoned building fell on Sunday evening. It was raining again as it has for almost a month straight. Apparently the weight of the water and total saturation of the wall caused it to buckle and give way. Luckily, no one was hurt in the collapse, which (as you can see from the pictures) sent the heavy debris out into the roadway - could you imagine the headlines if a car, an old woman, or a group of German tourists on their way up this main artery into the old town were crushed under the weight of a collapsing two story home? Almost one week has passed and still the broken blocks and debris are scattered about the road.

Every day, new pieces are picked off and carried away by different passersby. On the day after the collapse, Monday, the wreckage was in its most orderly state, everything remaining exactly as it fell. Most of my pictures of the wreckage were taken on Monday morning. On Tuesday evening a man was loading whatever wood he could salvage into the back of his open Mercedes – the stuff was so water logged and broken, I gathered he would take it home to dry and use for fire wood. On Wednesday, someone else began stacking the least damaged of the larger stones which were then gone later in the day when I passed by the site. The wires were still hanging down, broken and twisted beneath the wreckage that was spread out across the road. I’m just waiting to see how long it takes for the Mayor/Municipality to respond to this situation and have the roadway fully cleared… to their credit, they did put up one sign at either end of the street to divert traffic and some caution tape, but one of the signs was taken and the caution tape has been removed… so cars are still driving up the street before realizing they have to turn back by going in reverse back down the cobbled street.


On Friday Courtney watched five men with only one shovel move the stones off the street, opening up one of the two lanes of traffic... and life goes on in this UNESCO city.