Bust of Muzafer Asqeri

Turn your head once again to the left and you’ll notice a sculpture showing the bust of Muzafer Asqeri. Born here in 1918, he was later awarded the title of “Hero of the People”, the highest honour of socialist Albania, reserved for acts of bravery and sacrifice seen as exemplary in the defence of the country. He was killed in action on 20 July 1942, at just twenty-four years old, while fighting with the Albanian resistance against the Italian fascist occupation. The bust was inaugurated in 2015 and is part of a small group of monuments dedicated to notable figures from Gjirokastër, set around Çerçiz Topulli Square and the former religious buildings of this area. Its style is deliberately restrained, avoiding dramatic heroic poses and instead highlighting the youth of the fighter and the brutality of a period in which many Albanians lost their lives at a very young age.