A precious edition of "Shkodra Statutes", from the first half of the 14th century with additions to 1469, will be presented next Friday at the National Library in Tirana. The manuscript, preserved in Venice�s Correr Museum, was discovered by the researcher Lucia Nadin in 1995.

This edition is a legislative text drafted in the first half of 1300 that accompanied the events of the city of Shkodra until its fall into the hands of the Turks in 1479.

�We are dealing with a real historic monument of the medieval Albania whose value extends to the history of the eastern Adriatic coast and its relations with Venice and the great powers in the area, within the framework of major international equilibriums,� stated the National Library while forewarning this edition�s publication.

This publication also has the advantage of being the oldest legislative text produced in Albanian territory to date and it is a clear and complete witness to the coastal Albania and its urban centers.

Many of the text chapters are still strangely coherent, especially when they speak for example about the respect toward the strangers, or the need of morality in public affairs management and the protection of the freedom�s value.