Pyramid of Tirana

The Pyramid of Tirana is a brutalist landmark in the centre of the Albanian capital, opened in 1988 as a museum mausoleum for dictator Enver Hoxha. It was designed by a team that included Hoxha's daughter and son-in-law, three years after his death. With the fall of communism in 1991 the building lost its purpose and served by turns as a conference centre, NATO headquarters during the Kosovo war and finally a graffiti-covered ruin whose sloping concrete flanks were scaled by local children. Between 2018 and 2023 the Rotterdam firm MVRDV converted it into a public youth and technology centre: external stairs now lead up the sides to a rooftop with views across Tirana, while inside are coding workshops, cafes and studios.