Nikoll Idromeno (15 August 1860 – 12 December 1939), better known as Kolë Idromeno, was an Albanian painter, sculptor, architect, photographer, cinematographer, composer and engineer during the Albanian Renaissance in the nineteenth century. He is widely regarded as a precursor of both realism and landscape art in Albania.


Among his important works are a series of paintings where he tried to depict the social aspects of everyday life, customs and religion exactly as it appears. He was also distinguished for its rich use of colours and decorative shades with certain ethnographic elements and landscapes depicting places in or near Shkodër.


As an architect, he drew the plans for around fifty buildings either private and public. He also designed several industrial facilities, banks, the Rozafa cinema and Kafja e Madhe café. The coffered ceiling of the St. Stephens Cathedral, which is one of the largest cathedrals in the Balkans, was also a design by Kolë Idromeno.

Self portrait of Kolë Idromeno.


Motra Tone 


St. Stephens Cathedral, Church of Shirokë