Ndre Mjeda as a polyhedral figure, has aroused a significant interest in young scholars to know the work and life of the prominent Albanian poet and linguist who devotes his entire life to our national cause. While we have a considerable interest in environmental studies, there is also a tendency to re-read Mjeda’s work, because also because this author worked both for his century and for the times to come. The centers of albanological studies, university departments as well as pedagogical and scientific institutions throughout Albania have given an impetus to these conditions.
Based on these facts, the parish priest of Kukli Dom Nikë Ukgjini, with his arrival in 2006, has been working for several years in a row for the return to the identity of the construction world of St. Stephen’s Church as well as the apartment (cell) designed by the hand of the poet and where he had spent 30 years until his passing into eternity on 1 August 1937.
Mjeda came to the parish of Kukli in 1906, from the parish of Dajç of Zadrima and his work was focused on building the house, built in 1906 and a room converted into a Church which by expanding in 1913 gave the form of right.
Mjeda, in order not to let a village with inhabitants disappear, gave a big boost to the development of agriculture and livestock in the village and the area of Zadrima in general. He thus worked for thirty years to transform Kukli, to create the model of a modern village, of an advanced economy, which, then, to spread through it his ideas for the transformation of the whole country.
Kukli, as a center – because in terms of population has always been small and negligible – was known through Mjeda by many international personalities. Thus, the Austrian, Paul Siebertz, in his book, Albanie und Albanofen, testifies as an eyewitness, that in 1909, Kukli had 27 families, while Franz Seiner, in the statistics made for the population in Albania during the years 1916-1918 notes that Kukli and Mali i Kuklit, had 45 houses, of which 39 were permanently inhabited; had 302 inhabitants and 12 of its inhabitants were of the Muslim faith. Similar notes about the number of inhabitants can be found in Father Lorenc Viezzoli, S.J, in 1923, where Kukli, turns out to have 302 inhabitants.
Regarding Kukli, Mjeda also had bitter moments, two arrests: in 1912, he was arrested by the Ottoman officers of Ali Fehmiu Kosturi and kept locked in Kukli’s cell, where many manuscripts of his many years of work were burned and in 1916, by the Montenegrin army fleeing from Mirdita, they in Kukël were released as enraged against the parish priest Mjeda, arresting him with the aim of eliminating him. This, fortunately, ended with this, because the Serbian and Montenegrin armies withdrew in early 1916, followed by the Austro-Hungarian army.
From the parish of Kukli, Mjeda, performs the duty of deputy, politician, diplomat. At the same table that is in the museum today, he wrote and rewrote his creative and translation works, drafted hundreds of pages of textbooks and wrote dozens of study pages, etc.
The parishioners who came later, such as: Karlo Prenushi, Zef Gila and Ernest Troshani, who on the eve of Christmas 1963, was arrested by the communist regime, as a sign of respect for their teacher, Ndre Mjedë and Albanian culture , took care of the preservation of the poet’s premises and relics that were in the house (cell), such as: a part of the library with some manuscripts, tables, pens, typewriters, a wooden cross, damaged by Ottoman invaders, which Mjeda kept on his desk, etc.
The museum house in the time of communism
With the official closure of religious sites in Albania in 1967, which was inspired by the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the exile, imprisonment and shooting of Catholic clergy will continue with even greater intensity, adding to these the destruction and alienation of church buildings. .
The facilities in Kukël in 1967 were alienated: the church was turned into a collection depot and later a military depot, while the parish house became a residential house for the residents and a room in 1962 and later in 1982, a museum was set up with some relics of Mjeda. .
After the democratization of Albania in 1991, it was found that both objects of neoclassical style were severely damaged. The room-museum was closed and the objects, along with the work table, were sent for safekeeping to the Historical Museum of Shkodra.
Recreation and completion of the Center “Ndre Mjeda”
With the arrival of Mother Teresa’s brothers in this parish, in 1991, action was taken for the temporary restoration of the facilities in question. So in 2007 I started drafting a plan for organizing a complete and essential intervention for the restoration of facilities and re-arrangement of the premises of this religious and cultural center.
The ideas put on paper for the rehabilitation and completion of the Center with the relevant facilities, for the return to the identity of the Center and its completion, began on March 19, 2011 with intervention for the rehabilitation of the Church building, which was in a more urgent state due to damage. suffered. The works of the phase were closed, together with the courtyard and the erection of the magnificent statue of the poet Mjeda, at the end of July, taking place the inauguration ceremony on August 1, 2012, the day of the death of the poet Mjeda.
With the collection of funds from the European Community, in May 2014, the works of the second phase continued, which included the complete restoration of the museum house, and in September-October of the same year, the works on the museum system on the first floor were completed. first and second. The final moment of all works was dt. 18. November 2014, when in the presence of high ecclesiastical and state authorities of culture, the inauguration ceremony of this important nationwide Center took place.
With the completion of these works, the idea of a complete restoration of the identity of the Church and the house of Mjeda and the Center “Ndre Mjeda” was fully realized, was put in full service of Albanian and foreign culture.
It should be noted that in the center of attention of this Center, announced on December 16, 2011 Cultural Monument, is the original 100-year-old table of the poet Mjeda.
The museum which is located inside the building of the Center “Ndre Mjeda”, due to its values, the Ministry of Culture dated. 16. November 2015, has been declared a National Private Museum.
