Himni i Flamurit

Himni i Flamurit (English: Hymn to the Flag) is Albania's national anthem'. Its lyrics were first published as a poem in Liri e Shqipërisë (Freedom of Albania), an Albanian newspaper in Sofia, Bulgaria, in its issue of 21 April 1912. Later that year they appeared in a volume of collected poems by Drenova, under the title “Ëndra e lot” (Dreams and Tears), which was published in Bucharest. The official anthem uses only the first two stanzas of the original poem (the second stanza is used as a chorus). The music of the anthem was composed by the Romanian composer Ciprian Porumbescu, originally for the song "Pe-al nostru steag e scris Unire" (or "E scris pe tricolor unire").

Back when Albania first gained independence as a monarchy in 1912 from Italy, “Hymni i Flamurit” was adopted, and has been kept as the anthem through its period as a Communist/Marxist state and now as a democratic nation. The original title of the hymn was “Betimi mi flamur,” or “Pledge to the Flag.”