Udhët e Shkronjave (“The Paths of Letters”) was presented in November 2024 at the City Gallery in Shkodër, curated by Elton Hatibi and Edison Ceraj with coordination by Fisnik Barbullushi. The exhibition assembled manuscripts, calligraphic works, and religious texts originating exclusively from Shkodër, long regarded as one of the most important historical centers of Albanian civic life and Islamic scholarship.

The title itself suggested both movement and transmission: letters travel across generations, geographies, and intellectual lineages. By foregrounding the written word, the exhibition highlighted Shkodër’s historic role as a locus of literary cultivation, theological study, and mystical reflection. The displayed artifacts spanned multiple centuries, offering a layered view of the region’s scholarly continuity. Among the most significant works were medieval Qurʾānic manuscripts, whose artistic features and material composition testify to the presence of refined scribal cultures embedded within the city’s religious institutions.

These materials challenge reductive narratives that marginalize Islamic intellectual life in the Balkans. Instead, they reveal a sustained engagement with Qurʾānic exegesis, devotional practice, and manuscript production that situated Shkodër within broader Ottoman and transregional networks of learning. The exhibition emphasized that Islamic scholarship in Albania was not peripheral but structurally integrated into the intellectual currents of its time.

Importantly, the works presented form part of the broader and growing collection envisioned for the future Museum of Islamic Art, a flagship initiative of the Konak Institute. Their inclusion in the Shkodër exhibition marked both a homecoming and a curatorial statement: that local heritage must be preserved, studied, and reintroduced into public consciousness through rigorous institutional stewardship.

By situating these artifacts within a contemporary gallery setting, Udhët e Shkronjave transformed manuscripts from archival remnants into active interlocutors in present day cultural discourse. The exhibition offered visitors not only aesthetic appreciation, but also a reorientation toward Shkodër’s intellectual and spiritual legacy, reaffirming the city’s historical stature as a center of learning whose letters continue to trace living paths across time.