The National Circus ( sq, Cirku Kombëtar) is a

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

founded in 1952 and still fully active. The circus had its most successful years during the Communist Albania era and had difficulties in the 1990-2010 period when its personnel was reduced. The circus has been known to list famous Albanian athletes among its workers.

History

The circus was founded in 1952 in

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

, by Telat Agolli, Bajram Kurti, Xhuzepina Prendi (Shkurti), Bardhyl Jareci, and Abdyl Karakashi. The circus' first performance, ''Shkopi Magjik'', ( en, Magic Wand) was staged in 1959. In 1964 the circus started to maintain much higher standards of performance with the premiere of ''Fluturime akrobatike'' ( en, Acrobatic Flights). From 1952 to 1973 the circus operated as part of the

Estrada of Tirana Estrada is a Spanish surname and Portuguese term. Notable people with the surname include: *Armando Estrada, actually Hazem Ali, professional wrestler *Arturo Estrada Hernández, Mexican painter * Carla Estrada, Mexican producer *Chuck Estrada, Am ...

; in 1973, the circus split off to become its own company. In 1975 the circus started using a canvas tent for the first time and began to perform in other parts of Albania besides Tirana. In 1977 the ''Drejt lartësive'' ( en, Toward the Heights) show premiered in Tirana; in that same year a studio started to work full-time on the preparation of new artists by the circus masters. This brought the number of the people working for the circus to more than a hundred. In the 1990s, after the fall of communism and with Albania's transitional problems, the circus' staff shrank to almost half of what it had been in the prior decade. The canvas tent started to have problems and it was not repaired until 2000. A

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

project financed some of the circus' activities and by 2010, the Tirana Circus was doing much better than in the 1990s, still being the major circus in the country. However, after the serious financial problems of 1990-2010, the Tirana Circus has been placed under the administration of Albania's Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports.

Athletes' nest

Many Albanian athletes have emerged from the Tirana Circus, the best known of which are former World Champion weightlifter

Ymer Pampuri Ymer Pampuri (30 April 1944 – 18 January 2017) was an Albanian weightlifter who in the 1972 Summer Olympic Games became the first Albanian to break an Olympic record, the first Albanian to become a World Champion and the last World Champion ...

and Olympic weightlifter

Romela Begaj Romela Aleksandër Begaj (born 2 November 1986) is an Albanian weightlifter. On 11 November 2014 in Almaty she became world champion in the Snatch style for the category up to 63 kg. Previously Begaj represented Albania at the 2008 Europe ...

. Weightlifter Ymer Pampuri (born in 1944) started his circus career when he was only 7, the same year the circus was founded, and grew up as an acrobat. Later on he started to practice weightlifting. He stopped competing in 1981 when he was 37, and he returned to circus where he was again an acrobat until 1994, when he retired at the age of 50.

References

{{Tirana

1952 establishments in Albania Tourist attractions in Tirana