Mushrooms of Concrete

Albanian Communist Party Chief Enver Hoxha ran the country for 41 years, from 1944 to 1985. He was in constant fear of attack from outside and so he had 750,000 bunkers built at strategic locations, which still dot the landscape. Against the backdrop of these deserted mushroom-shaped bunkers, elderly Albanians tell of their interminable work on them and the many sacrifices they made before going on to train in them: bunkers of various sizes, connecting corridors, subterranean complexes - all waiting for an enemy that never came. The concrete constructions are like a permanent reminder of this "crime against ourselves." But not to younger generation, as these concrete mushrooms are being used as commercial space, nightclubs, storage facilities and high-end restaurants. They are displayed to tourists with pride: "The bunkers are our cathedrals."