Kristo Shuli

Who was Kristo Shuli?

Kristo Shuli, full name Kristo Panajot Shuli, also known as Kristo Sulidhi, was an Albanian photographer and writer of the 19th and early 20th century. He was born in the village of Marjan of the region of Opar. He emigrated to Greece where he wrote in Anastas Kullurioti's weekly The Voice of Albania,. One of his most important poems was a ballad of 150 verses entitled The Albanians who fight in Gucia. He returned to Albania and worked in Korçë as a photographer. One of his most important photos is the one that documented the first Albanian school, opened in 1887.

Shuli was a Protestant and close friend with Gjerasim Qiriazi, founder of the Protestant Church of Albania. For this reason he was excommunicated by the Orthodox church to whom he belonged before converting to Protestantism. When his 20-year-old son died, Kristo was left with the choice of either renouncing the Protestant faith, or bury his son outside of the Christian Orthodox cemetery of the city. He did not give up his faith and, crying, buried his son in the garden of his own house.