A consortium of studios led by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels was selected on Sunday to draft the master plan that will transform part of the Petrela hills into the so-called “Faith Park”.
But, like many recent government initiatives, this intervention was pushed forward without transparency and clear development goals. Meanwhile, part of the project overlaps with the Përsqop Protected Area, one of the most important Illyrian heritage sites in Albania.
The selection was made following a competition called in March by the Albanian Investment Corporation (KISH) and the National Territorial Planning Agency (AKPT). Thirty studios submitted concepts, 12 of which qualified for the second phase and were presented this weekend.
The project that received the jury's trust was that of the team led by Bjarke Ingels in collaboration with SON Engineering & Construction, Future City, Edoardo Tresoldi, Arton Poro, Systematica, Zyhdi Teqja, RWDI Anemos and Imam Gazmend Aga.
The jury consisted of 13 members, including Prime Minister Edi Rama himself, as well as representatives of the organizing institutions Adelajda Roka (AZHT) and Elira Kokona (KISH). The jury also included curator Anneke Abhelakh, who represented Albania at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale.
Similar to other KISH competitions, the winning group and the four finalists were awarded a total of 200,000 euros in prize money.
New project with old ideas
The concept for "Faith Park" is not new. In the first term of the Rama government, this was the name of the international competition that took place in the period October-November 2015.
The competition, which envisaged the construction of a mosaic of parks, mainly along the "Martyrs of the Nation" Boulevard, was won by the Dutch studio UNLAB. concept Their project turned the Pyramid into an embassy of European culture with offices and spaces for public events interspersed with a variety of greenery.
But their project was never implemented. Instead, the government and the Municipality of Tirana shifted priorities and the Pyramid was given to other Dutch people. MVRDV, a studio that turned the building into a space with a completely different concept, completely dispelling the previous idea.
The concept of the park today, ten years later, according to Bjarke Ingels' team that won the competition, extends over an area of 21 hectares in the Petrela hills near the Erzeni valley. The area is envisioned as a space that unites in one place the symbols of the five religious faiths in Albania.
The project aims to create thematic trails that reflect elements from the holy scriptures, from cult objects to plants with religious significance, while all the paths will join a "Museum of Memory", dedicated to the victims of religious persecution during the dictatorship.
100 facilities are expected to be built within the park, described as: "hospitable shelter", or spaces for events for up to 500 people, as well as restaurants that will offer traditional dishes from every religious community.
The project also includes thermal baths and ecological areas, aiming to welcome around 30 visitors per year. In presenting the winning project, Prime Minister Rama described the initiative as "national pride" and said that "There should be more than one such park in the country".
In Albania, Bjarke is known for the project of the new National Theater and the Pixel Towers (in the center, Fusha shpk) and Gateway Tower (at the bus terminal, Pajtoni Group). The experience of his projects is not so friendly to the public.
The return of "Faith Park", but in an area outside the capital, in the Petrela hills, it raises questions about the purpose of this urban approach. If the goal is truly to strengthen the cultural and religious identity of the country, how was this site selected, and do the Petrela hills truly represent this purpose? Why not the hills of Kruja, for example, Laç, Berat, etc.
Of course, the arguments could be numerous, but the exclusion criteria for other areas were not clear in the KISH call. Likewise, the guarantees for protected areas and that the land will not be used for commercial purposes were not clear.
At this point, Petrela is a coveted area for residential investments, being close to massively developed areas with projects such as the Mjull-Bathore-Lundër-Mullet perimeter.
The dark side of the park idea
KISH, which led the development process of 21 hectares in the Petrela hills, has become one of the government's most powerful tools to administer and develop public properties through partnerships with the private sector.
To date, KISH has opened 16 calls, some of which Citizens.al has covered extensively with articles and analyses.
In most of the calls, in order to avoid parliamentary control and accountability, there has been a lack of transparency regarding the method of assessment and decision-making for the allocation of state assets at risk of private appropriation.
A similar thing seems to be happening in the case of "Faith Park". So, after sport – where every stadium in major Albanian cities expected to be with towers – the government seems to be returning too "the spiritual side" in incentives for development projects, projects that mainly feed the portfolios of archivists.
Without public discussion or consultation with the local community, KISH has included eight private land parcels totaling 4.5 hectares in the proposed park site.
Of course, the owners could be expropriated, or even compensated for the restriction of development opportunities. But the formula that KISH has used so far – a partnership with the private sector – does not assure residents that no one else will benefit from their properties in the future from the master plan that the joint studio led by Bjarke Ingels will work on.
But the most serious concern is related to the impact on archaeological heritage.
The competition documents acknowledge that part of the proposed territory overlaps with the Protected Area of the Ancient Walls and Tomb of Persqopi, one of the most important Illyrian sites in Albania.
In this area are the ruins of the ancient city of Përsqop (Brysaka), a 4th century BC settlement, which, according to archaeologist Neritan Ceka, was the residence of the Illyrian king Glauk and the controversial childhood refuge of Pyrrhus of Epirus.
Perskop contains cyclopean walls several meters high, a monumental tomb, ruins of dwellings, and an ancient water supply system – a rare archaeological complex that, according to experts, requires strict protection from any massive construction or tourist intervention.
However, the preservation of the site was left to the competition participants themselves, without any binding legal protocol for the protection of heritage. Such an approach risks turning archaeology into a decorative element of an urban project, risking to minimize it under the pretext of "interfaith harmony".
In the absence of transparency on financing, ownership and legal guarantees, “Faith Park” remains more of an aesthetic narrative than a credible development project. After all, the idea of 10 years ago was forgotten on paper. The same thing is likely to happen with the second version.
But, in the face of other precedents – where various public spaces have been turned into construction zones with private beneficiaries – Petrela's project leaves the same conclusion open. In this context, the discussion for the future will be how much of this park will belong to the public and how much will serve another cycle of urban development without accountability?
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Erblin Vukaj has completed his studies in “Communication Sciences” and further mastered (MSc) in “European and International Journalism” at the University of Tirana. Since 2012, Vukaj has been working as a professional journalist, gaining experience in online media, print media, radio and television. He has covered various issues such as current affairs, health, environment and sports. In parallel, he has led and been involved in several research projects on the communist past in Albania.
