On July 10, 1968, the atheist exhibition titled “On the Reactionary Role of Religion” was inaugurated in Shkodra and remained open for 5 years. It was also conceived as a traveling exhibition in villages, highlands, and industrial areas.
On the eve of the VII Congress of Women to be held in Shkodra (in the Cathedral of Saint Stephen, now the Sports Palace) on June 9, 1973, the exhibition was transformed into the Atheist Museum, which was located in a building in the center of the city of Shkodra. The authorities of the time were proud of this Museum, because according to them it was the only one of its kind in the world. At the entrance to the museum, Marx's quote was placed: "Religion is the opium of the people". The exhibition space was divided into two floors of the building and dealt with different topics.
Two exhibition pavilions were located on the first floor and dealt with “the tradition of the Albanian people in the fight against religion and the clergy” and with “the popular revolutionary movement of 1967, against religion and its material basis”. On the second floor were located three other exhibition pavilions, dealing with “the anti-scientific and reactionary character of religious ideology”, “religion as a political tool of the ruling and occupying classes” and “the failure of the counter-evolutionary activity of the clergy after the occupation”.
In the stands of each pavilion, documents, photos, and various materials were exhibited that aimed to highlight the hostile and reactionary role of the clergy, especially the Catholic clergy, as servants of the Vatican and imperialism. This museum also had a traveling exhibition consisting of 23 stands, which was exhibited in different areas not only of Shkodra, but also of Albania.
The visitors to this museum were school students, work collectives, members of communist parties from other countries visiting Albania, as well as foreign tourists.
The Atheist Museum remained open until December 13, 1990. The building where this museum was located was attacked and an attempt was made to destroy it, on the same day that a protest took place in Shkodra for the toppling of the bust of Enver Hoxha.
