House of Leaves (Museum of Secret Surveillance)

The House of Leaves (Albanian: Muzeu i Përgjimeve te Sigurimit te Shtetit; Shtepia e Gjetheve) occupies a building in central Tirana that served as the headquarters and surveillance centre of the Sigurimi, Albania's state secret police. Multiple guidebooks, institutional accounts and travel sources identify the site as the physical locus of the Sigurimi's domestic surveillance apparatus. The building is widely known by the nickname "House of Leaves," a name used by locals and visitors and referenced in reportage and commentary about the site. Originally constructed in 1931 as a maternity clinic according to one guidebook account, the building was later (and covertly) repurposed by the Sigurimi as a centre for surveillance operations. After the fall of communist rule and subsequent preservation efforts, the site was refurbished and opened as a public museum dedicated to documenting the techniques, instruments and human consequences of state surveillance. Institutional reporting notes an official museum opening in 2020; earlier visits and reporting about the building occurred during the refurbishment period. The museum's exhibits include surveillance devices made by the Sigurimi, portable transceivers and other technical implements, as well as original internal documents and interpretive materials. Visitors and travel writers frequently describe the atmosphere as eerie or unsettling, an emotional response the sources attribute to the building's history and the evocative presentation rather than to reported supernatural occurrences. No supplied sources document paranormal phenomena, named spirits, or hauntings tied to the House of Leaves; interpretations in the literature frame the site's affective quality in socio-historical terms related to surveillance and memory. The museum functions as a public space for memory and education about wartime and Cold War-era repression in Albania and remains a listed attraction for visitors to Tirana.