The English poet and painter Edward Lear (1812-1888) was born in Highgate (London), the twentieth of twenty-one children. He was a passionate painter from an early age and received a commission from the Earl of Derby to paint landscapes in the Mediterranean. He travelled to Albania in the autumn of 1848 on an originally unplanned journey. It was the British ambassador in Constantinople who managed to get the requisite papers for him to travel through what was then considered the wilds of the Ottoman Empire. Starting from Thessalonika, he arrived in Monastir (Bitola) on 20 September. From there, they continued on to Ohrid, Struga, Elbasan, Tirana, Kruja, Lezha and Shkodra, which they reached on 2 October. After several days there, they returned to Tirana and continued southwards to Kavaja, Berat (14-18 October), Ardenica, Apollonia, Vlora, the coast of Himara (21-30 October), Tepelena, Gjirokastra and on to Janina (5 November). The delightful account of the journey, of which we provide an excerpt here, was published in his “Journals of a Landscape Painter in Albania,” London 1851, reprinted as “Edward Lear in Albania: Journals of a Landscape Painter in the Balkans.
Berat Art Gallery, named Edward Lear is the first art gallery in Berat opened September 6, 1984, but closed in 1991. After that period called “Democracy” the local artists remained without a place where to exhibit their works. It took inspiration from Tirana to determine Berat artists to open a new gallery in 1994, on November 15. This is known as the Berat Art Gallery, or the Art Gallery “Edward Lear” (Galeria e arteve Edward Lear).
The gallery is an important institution for the development of local arts. Although new, the gallery has managed to create a rich fund that consists of 105 works of art from various genres, techniques, different artistic directions, and names that represent the most important artists of the city of Berat, and the country. The fund also includes works from artists from Germany, Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Belgium, England, Canada, America, and Macedonia. The gallery is housed inside the Pallati i Kulturës (Palace of Culture) in the center of the city.
Front view of the castle 
Constantine Bust