Laç June 1990: The Religious Revival That Defied Albania’s Communist Regime

In the summer of 1990, on the eve of the communist regime’s collapse, the small northern town of Laç became one of the strongest symbols of Albania’s religious revival. At the site where the church of Saint Ndou once stood, thousands of believers began gathering every week, openly defying the decades-long ban on religion and the state’s tight grip on spiritual life.

The Church of Laci known as "Shna Ndou" from above (drone photo)

In a place where no religious symbols had been allowed for nearly half a century, people raised crosses, prayed, sang hymns, and performed rituals that had long been erased from public life. Faith, once suppressed, was bursting back into view with an unstoppable force, and Laç emerged as a symbol of the first cracks in the wall communism had built against religion.

But this revival did not come without tension. The massive crowds, often numbering in the tens of thousands, brought not only hope but also unrest. Clashes broke out with troublemakers, fights erupted, and even gun violence marred those charged days of both fear and belief.

A declassified document from June 1990 describes the scale of the phenomenon. By March, every Tuesday more than 5,000 people were gathering at the site. In just three days in mid-June, around 40,000 believers had made their way to Laç—figures that, according to local residents, even surpassed the church’s heyday before its destruction. On June 12 alone, more than 10,000 people spent the night at the site and in the surrounding hills. That night, confrontations with local criminal elements, who tried to profit from offerings left by the faithful, led to violence, and one woman was wounded by gunfire.

The majority of worshippers came from northern districts, especially Mirdita, Shkodra, and Lezha. Women with children made up a significant portion of the pilgrims, but there was also a marked increase in young people—particularly girls aged 14 to 22—who joined the gatherings.

The return of religious practice was visible everywhere: collective prayers, kissing of stones, choral hymns, and even the raising of a large wooden cross on June 12, before which believers knelt in prayer. The cross, however, was soon burned down by “social activists,” echoing the ongoing resistance of the crumbling regime.

What unfolded in Laç in June 1990 was more than a religious resurgence. It was a spiritual rebellion—an unmistakable signal that the Albanian people’s faith had survived the harshest prohibitions and was now strong enough to break through the iron walls of dictatorship.