The Maidens’s Shrine
Lola Sylaj
The Maidens’ Shrine by Lola Sylaj is a film project exploring Albanian mythology and spiritual heritage through the story of a shrine in Gjakova. Believed to be built over the graves of six sisters killed by Austro-Hungarian soldiers around 400 years ago, the shrine symbolizes protection and power, intertwining myths of fairies with fate and protective rituals. The project - a result of an eight-month research process initiated in 2019 - draws on interviews with the Bejtullahu family, caretakers of the shrine, as well as archival materials and texts such as Albanian Mythologies and Demonologies by Azem Qazimi and Albanian Folktales and Legends by Robert Elsie. Combining storytelling, research, and interpretation, the project offers a fresh perspective on this element of Albanian collective memory and tradition.
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Programme
HS Fellowship
Timeline
29.08.2019
—28.01.2020
Project Lead
Contributors
- Researcher: Donjetë Murati
- Director: Lola Sylaj
- Director of Photography: Leart Rama
- Cast: Alketa Sylaj, Tristan Halilaj, Hana Qena, Laura Bilalli, Jeta Veseli, Tringa Sefedini
- Sound: Dren Suldashi
- Sound Design and music: Tomor Kuçi
Formats
Time
29.01.2025
Fables tell of fairies that appear from the forest to protect, by attacking anyone who acts with ill intent. The resemblance of such a story with The Maidens’ Shrine is uncanny, as the maidens today are said to protect people from harm. The video “The Maidens’ Shrine” shows multiple similarities with various Albanian myths and rituals. The video takes inspiration from interviews with the Bejtullahu family in Gjakova, who have been caring for the shrine, as well as articles that narrate the story of the shrine.
“The Maidens' Shrine” is a story about six girls, sisters, who died fighting austro-hungarian soldiers, and whose graves were turned into a shrine roughly 400 years ago. The video is an eight-month process of the project “Albanian Mythologies and Demonologies” which began in the midst of 2019, by coming across a dictionary “Albanian mythologies and demonologies” by Azem Qazimi and Robert Elsie’s Albanian Folktales and Legends, portrayals that opened a world of fairies, cats, snakes, protection, and luck.
Drawing from them, a research exercise began along a theoretical framework on the relations between myths and rituals. In order to grasp how social phenomena unfolds through myths, as “myths differ from other kinds of signifiers. For one thing, they are never arbitrary. They always contain some kind of analogy which motivates them. In contrast to ideas of false consciousness, myths don’t hide anything.” (Robinson:2011)The Maidens’ Shrine is a video that showcases an interaction between past and present, on the actions and sayings that linger on through time.