House of Leaves Museum

An absolute must-see in Tirana. The Museum of Secret Surveillance, located in the former 'House of Leaves,' is both fascinating and eerie. The displays of vintage spying equipment and the personal stories of those monitored are deeply moving. It’s very well-curated with English translations throughout. Give yourself at least an hour to fully take it all in.

A great experience to understand how the local “Stazi” was operating during communism. The building itself, supported by the artifacts and the storytelling, immerse you in that dark era. A must-visit site if you come to Tirana. Price is 7€, very well worth the time and the experience.

Okay and affordable museum. It even won some awards but I feel they could upgrade the experience. The focus is mostly on the surveillance aspect of the previous regime as this was the wiretapping HQ. They could add some interactivity to the experience like putting on headphones to listen to recordings or trying to use a secret camera. The route through the house is a bit confusing. It was rather cold in the house in December. Also, I recommend changing the bulbs on the projectors as the videos are very dark. There is a bunker accessible from outside but contains a completely pointless "art" installation. Still, for the price, it is worth a visit, but I took a star away.

Growing up, Tirana and Albania were so remote and inaccessible that I couldn’t imagine actually visiting the city or country. Having arrived in Tirana our (2 adults- 3 teenagers) first visit was to the House of Leaves - a really excellent introduction to the regime and recent history - well laid out and located on the actual site of much of the activities (Sigurimi) around monitoring people and the paranoia of the regime - a personal insight was the development of ever more ‘subtle’ ways of spying on people - nowadays the state or other ‘institutions’ don’t need to be so surreptitious - the information is volunteered - now where did I leave my car keys Alexa? How is your voice assistant today? 👀👂🏻😮 - have we given up our privacy? BTW my 3 kids were enthralled and got a sense of the history through the exhibits and building - it was a really good introduction to the city and country - excellent experience

Authentic, sobering, well curated with English translations. Plan to spend 1 to 2 hours exploring the site and absorbing the information. You will gain a deeper understanding of the depth and breadth of the Communist regime's control on the Albanian people. It is prohibited to take photos inside the building.

Very informative Museum of Secret Surveillance . Located in the building that served as the Sigurimi (which in Albanian means "Security"), was the state security, intelligence and secret police service of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania.headquarters during the communist era.

Very interesting museum if you already know the history, if you don't it's best to do a little research beforehand to fully contemplate what happened here

Very interesting museum. It was the head quarters of the Sigurimi (the secret police under the communist dictatorship). Explains how the they used surveillance on Albanians and foreigners. Lots of historical documents and artifacts. Great for history buffs.