Rrok Zojzi, ethnologist, professor, was born in Shkodër. He worked as a teacher in the villages and in the city of Shkodra, as well as in Kosovo. In 1947, he created the first ethnographic nucleus at the Institute of Sciences, laid the foundations of institutionalized ethnographic science in Albania, provided basic assistance for the establishment of the Archaeological-Ethnographic Museum in June 1948. As an employee in the successor institutions of the Institute of Sciences, he undertook research expedition in many regions of the country, created, enriched and systematized the funds of material culture, the photo collection, the sketch collection, the funds with writings collected in the field, the card file, as well as the relevant documentation for each category. He published a series of studies and articles, among which the monograph “Ndamja Krahinore e Popullit Shqiptar” (“The Regional Division of the Albanian People”) , which has special values, first published in “Etnografia Shqiptare” (“Albanian Ethnography”), 1, 1962; also the study “Traditat, e lundrimit detar te popullit shqiptar” (“Traditions of Seafaring among the Albanian People”)(1959); “Gjurmët e një kalendari primitiv” (“Traces of a Primitive Calendar”) (1949). Rrok Zojzi was the creator of the series of illustrative publications “Arti Popullor në Shqipëri” (“Folk art in Albania”) and the author of their study forewords; founder and first editor-in-chief of the collection “Etnografia Shqiptare” (“Albanian Ethnography”,; creator of several ethnographic exhibitions inside and outside the country, co-author and co-creator of the National Weapons Museum, co-author of the ethnographic exhibition “Kultura Popullore Shqiptare” (“Albanian folk culture”)and of several ethnographic museums in the districts. He passed away in Tirana, in 1995. (In the photo: Rrok Zojzi)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 3 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2009, page 2997.
Photo: © National Historical Museum, Tirana.
Graphic processing: AHCF
