One of the most exceptional museums you should visit in Albania is the Museum of Natural Sciences in Tirana. This museum has an extraordinary collection of our country’s rich biodiversity, where about 3000 specimens are exhibited, i.e., unique species, and a scientific research fund of 100,000 species of Albanian fauna.

The Museum of Natural Sciences “Sabiha Kasimati” (MSHN) was established in 1948 as part of the former Institute of Sciences. With the creation of the University of Tirana in 1957, this museum came under the jurisdiction of the Faculty of Natural Sciences as part of the Department of Zoology. In 2010, together with the National Herbarium and the Botanical Garden, it became part of the Flora and Fauna Research Center of the Faculty of Natural Sciences.

The Mediterranean is one of the wealthiest fauna areas in the world, and Albania has been an oasis of rare species carefully collected by Albanian researchers, especially during the communist period. Currently, Albania has 30% of the fauna in all of Europe. Still, Albania has lost more of its fauna than any other European country due to demographic changes, erosion, deforestation, uncontrolled land use, fishing, illegal hunting, etc. However, in this museum, you will find an extraordinary wealth of species living on our land or waters.

Inventory of fauna in the museum: Entomofauna (Insects), Herpetofauna (Amphibians and Reptiles), Ornitofauna (Birds), Mammalofauna (Mammals), Macrobentofauna (Molluscs, Crustaceans)