Museum of Secret Surveillance: "House of Leaves"

The Museum of Secret Surveillance "House with Leaves" was opened to the public on May 23, 2017. This museum is the youngest and most unique in Albania that tries to tell young people and foreigners one of the darkest periods of the history of the country. This building located in the center of Tirana housed the Gestapo for a short time, during the occupation of the country by Fascist Italy in the Second World War, and was the central headquarters of the secret service from 1944-1991.

Just like the history of Albania under the communist dictatorship, which was installed at the end of the Second World War and continued for almost half a century, the House of Leaves for a long time has been wrapped in all kinds of legends and constituted a mystery.

Interceptions, controls, espionage... Which have brought arrests, deportations, torture, heavy punishments for many, many innocent people... This museum is dedicated to them...

Conceived in 9 sections, the House with Leaves consists of 31 coherently connected rooms and each room has a special function. Some of the most interesting rooms of this museum are:

• The investigation room, where torture practices and many forms of terror against persons are presented.
• The operational technical room where original equipment used by Sigurimi for interception and stalking of persons are exhibited.
• Chimka's room where one of the symbols of the eavesdropping of that time is exhibited.
• The associates' files room where declassified files of the Security associates are exhibited.
• The room with the names of many arrested and executed, etc.