House of Leaves

Overview

The House of Leaves (Shtëpia me Gjethe) is Albania's museum of secret surveillance, housed in the actual building where the Sigurimi secret police ran their eavesdropping operations. Its name comes from the ivy that once covered the façade, hiding its sinister purpose from passers-by.

Highlights

• Original Wiretapping Equipment: Rooms full of analogue listening devices, reel-to-reel recorders, and hidden microphones.
• Personal Stories: Testimonies and dossiers of ordinary Albanians who were spied upon, offering a deeply moving experience.
• The Building Itself: The elegant 1931 villa — first a maternity clinic, then a Gestapo HQ, then a Sigurimi nerve centre — tells its own layered story.

History

Built in 1931, the building served as a maternity clinic before the Italian and then German occupations. After 1945, the communist Sigurimi converted it into their primary surveillance headquarters. It opened as a museum in 2017.

Visitor Tips

• Take the audio guide — the stories bring the sterile equipment to life.
• Photography is allowed throughout.
• Duration: 45 minutes–1 hour.