Silver Cross, Albania, 1908
Pitt Rivers Museum
This silver cross from Albania was collected by the anthropologist and explorer, Edith Durham (1863-1944). Exhausted after spending years caring for her mother, she was prescribed travel by her doctor. From the age of 37, she spent 14 years regularly travelling to the Balkans, particularly to Albania, then considered a relatively undiscovered part of Europe. She wrote extensively about her travels in Albania, becoming an ardent advocate of freedom for the Albanian people, undertaking relief work and campaigning for the protection of minorities in the hope of a just and lasting Balkan peace.
Listen to a reflection by Professor Jane Shaw, Principal, Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford
