Obelisk of Education

Before continuing, walk a few steps to your right and climb the short flight of stairs you see here. They lead you straight to the next landmark, the Obelisku i Arsimit, the Obelisk of Education. You are now standing at the highest point of Gjirokastër’s old town, right beside the site of the city’s first Albanian-language school, opened in 1908 under the name “Liria”, meaning “Freedom”. During the Ottoman period, teaching in Albanian was forbidden and seen as a threat, and this monument honours the teachers, intellectuals and families who defended the language as the foundation of national identity. About seven metres high and carved from local limestone, the obelisk is made of 124 stone blocks from the Lekdush Progonat quarry and is shaped like a rolled parchment, a clear symbol of learning and the transmission of knowledge. The bas-reliefs tell this story through images: hands holding a torch, a book and an olive branch evoke the light of education and the hope of a peaceful future, while nearby a man in traditional dress guiding a schoolchild represents knowledge being passed from one generation to the next. Before heading back down, take a moment to enjoy the view, with the old town below you, the Drino Valley stretching out ahead, and the surrounding mountains framing the landscape.