History & Design:

The Albanian Cultural Garden was created to raise awareness of Cleveland’s Albanian community, which has been flourishing since the 1890s. There are now approximately 20,000 Albanians living in Northeast Ohio.
In the mid-2000s, Cleveland City Councilwoman Dona Brady, who is of Albanian descent, helped to create this garden by sponsoring legislation designating a new garden plot to the Albanian American Association. She worked with Cleveland’s sister city in Albania, Fier, and the garden was dedicated on the 100th anniversary of Albanian independence. The dedication ceremony was attended by Albanian President Bujar Nishani, Albanian Ambassador to the United States Gilbert Galanxhi and Fier Mayor Baftjar Zeqaj.

The focal point of the garden is a seven-foot-tall bronze statue of Albania’s beloved Mother Teresa, created by Albanian sculptor Kreshnik Xhiku. Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who lived from 1910 to 1997, was born Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in Albania. She won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the poor in the slums of Calcutta, India, and was canonized Saint Teresa of Calcutta in 2016.

Another feature of the Albanian Cultural Garden is a 1920s granite fountain, which had been located on the north side of Cleveland’s City Hall and then misplaced for several years. After its rediscovery, the fountain was installed on the hillside behind the Mother Teresa statue in 2013.