Mother Albania is a 12 m statue

Statue

A statue is a sculpture in the round representing a person or persons, an animal, an idea or an event, normally full-length, as opposed to a bust, and at least close to life-size, or larger...

 located at the National Martyrs Cemetery of Albania

National Martyrs Cemetery of Albania

The National Martyrs Cemetery of Albania is the largest cemetery in Albania, located on a hill overlooking Tirana. Some 900 partisans who died during World War II are buried in the cemetery....

  in Albania

Albania

Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...

, dedicated in 1971.

The statue figuratively represents the country as a mother guarding over the eternal slumber of those who gave their lives for her. There are 28,000 graves of Albanian partisans

Partisan (military)

A partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activity...

 in the cemetery, all of whom perished during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. The massive statue holds a wreath of laurel

Laurel wreath

A laurel wreath is a circular wreath made of interlocking branches and leaves of the bay laurel , an aromatic broadleaf evergreen. In Greek mythology, Apollo is represented wearing a laurel wreath on his head...

s and a star

Star

A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...

. The cemetery

Cemetery

A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...

 was also the resting place of former leader Enver Hoxha

Enver Hoxha

Enver Halil Hoxha was a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary andthe leader of Albania from the end of World War II until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania...

, who was subsequently disinterred and given a more humble grave in another public cemetery.

The statue is made of concrete and it is a work of the sculptors Kristaq Rama, Muntaz Dhrami and Shaban Hadëri. It stands atop a 3 m pedestal; engraved on the pedestal are the words "Lavdi e perjetshme deshmoreve te Atdheut" ("Glory to the martyrs of the homeland forever").