Kruschev at Butrint

Enver Hoxha’s post-war communist regime in Albania had close ties with Stalin’s Soviet Union. However, with Stalin’s death, Hoxha began to suspect the Soviet leadership of betraying the ideals of Leninism. In May 1959, in an effort to heal the developing rift, Hoxha invited Nikita Khrushchev and his defence minister, Marshal Malinovski, to visit Albania. In keeping with Hoxha’s interest in Albanian history, the Soviet leader was taken to Apollonia and to Butrint.

The preparations and security measures were drastic. A new road was constructed from Saranda to Butrint – the first modern road covering this 20 km distance – to facilitate Khrushchev’s journey. At Butrint itself, the beehives of the site custodian were burnt and the snakes inhabiting the dense vegetation were poisoned lest they injure the Soviet leader. Descriptions say that dead snakes filled the theatre and hung from statues.

Khrushchev seems not to have noticed the snakes. Instead, in Hoxha’s description of the visit, published in 1980, he comes across as a boorish character insensitive both to the natural beauty of the place and its historical and cultural significance:

He even criticised our archaeological work as “dead things.” When he visited Butrint he said, “Why do you employ all these forces and funds on such dead things? Leave the Greeks and Romans to their antiquity!” Khrushchev was truly an ignoramus in these things. He called Malinovski, who was always near at hand, “Look how marvellous this is”, I heard them whisper, “an ideal base for our submarines could be built here. These old things should be dug up and thrown into the sea; we can tunnel through the mountains to the other side”, and he pointed to the village of Ksamili. “We shall have the most ideal and secure base in the Mediterranean. From here we can paralyse and attack everything.”

Six months later Hoxha broke off relations, denouncing the Soviets as traitors. Except for a spell in the 1960s and 70s, when Albania formed an alliance with China, the country entered a period of isolationism.
However, the tarmac road remained, making Butrint a viable tourist destination. Within a decade foreign tourists groups were chaperoned not only to see Albania’s model tractor factories but also to see the marvels of Butrint.

 

• Institute of Archaeology
• Post-War Archeology
• Khrushchev

Poisoned snakes
Besnik walked down to see the statues and the theatre, which was almost covered by water. Suddenly the surface was disturbed and the bodies of snakes appeared, their bodies gyrating with disgusting slowness. He moved a step backwards.
“Don’t be afraid, we have poisoned them because Khrushchev likes to walk. The marshes here are full of them.” “Today is nothing”, said Zef, who worked for the television. “Yesterday it was terrible. Their bodies filled the water and hung from the statues and columns.”
Besnik asked him to stop. However, he spent a further brief time gazing at the dead snakes that hung from the statues.

Ismail Kadare, Dimri i Madh (The Great Winter), 1977