Museum of Natural Sciences

Tirana’s Natural Sciences Museum “Sabiha Kasimati” is a natural science museum. The museum, which was founded in 1948, is linked with the University of Tirana and comprises sections in zoology, botany, and geology.

Sabiha Kasimati, the first Albanian scientist to make significant contributions to the study of freshwater fish, was honored with the museum’s naming on March 8, 2018. Kasimati was assassinated by the Communist dictatorship in February 1951, accused of being a member of a group of 22 Albanian intellectuals who detonated a bomb in the Russian embassy in Tirana. All victims were rehabilitated and posthumously granted the Order of Honour of the State by the new administration in 1991.

The museum is divided into seven pavilions, each housing 3,000 artifacts relevant to Albania’s diverse biodiversity, such as animals (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects, and aquatic invertebrates) and plants. Invertebrates account for the majority of the faunal specimens shown in the museum and stored in the scientific storage area. Sabiha Kasimati, Ilia Mitrushi, Vasil Puzanov, Fotaq Lamani, Kastriot Misja, Idriz Haxhiu, Vangjel Andoni, Lek Gjiknu ri, Islam Zeko, Andrian Vaso, Ferdinand Bego, Taulant Bino, Sajmir Beqiraj, and others contributed to the Museum’s extensive collection. In addition, museum curators and taxidermists like Muhamet Shpati and Grigor Jorgo helped to preserve the collection.