Hapet Vela (“The Sail is Unfurled”), hosted at Kalo Gallery and curated by Ervin Hatibi and Lauresha Basha, unfolded as a visual and intellectual meditation on memory, suppression, and renewal. Drawing inspiration from the Qurʾānic and late antique narrative of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, the exhibition invoked the metaphor of dormancy rather than disappearance: traditions may be silenced, but they are not extinguished.

In the Albanian context, this metaphor carried particular historical weight. During the communist period, religious expression was not merely discouraged but systematically eradicated from public life. Manuscripts were hidden, devotional objects removed from circulation, and artistic traditions interrupted. Hapet Vela positioned these suppressed inheritances not as relics of a closed past, but as living continuities capable of re entering public consciousness.

The exhibition featured manuscripts, calligraphy, and religious artifacts that testified to the depth and sophistication of Albania’s Islamic intellectual and aesthetic heritage. These works reflected a cultivated manuscript culture shaped by Ottoman scholarly networks, refined traditions of Qurʾānic calligraphy, and devotional arts embedded within everyday religious life. Their display challenged the long standing narrative that reduced Islamic heritage to marginal or foreign influence, instead presenting it as integral to the country’s historical fabric.

Significantly, many of the exhibited items form part of the growing collection envisioned for the future Museum of Islamic Art, a flagship project of the Konak Institute. This marked the first public presentation of selected pieces from that emerging collection, offering a preliminary view of the intellectual and curatorial direction of the proposed institution. The works spanned genres and materials, from handwritten codices and calligraphic panels to devotional objects and elements of visual culture, demonstrating the breadth of artistic production that the museum seeks to preserve and interpret.

The exhibition attracted a diverse audience, including artists, diplomats, scholars, and students, fostering dialogue across cultural and professional communities. Beyond its aesthetic dimension, Hapet Vela functioned as an act of cultural reclamation. It reopened questions of spiritual identity and historical continuity, suggesting that what once appeared dormant can, like a sail unfurled, once again gather wind and direction.