Theodor Anton Ippen, Austrian diplomat and albanologist, was born in Vienna, Austria. He started his consular career at a young age in the Consulate General of Austria-Hungary in Shkodër, in 1884. After a break, he returned in 1893 and continued to serve as the head of this representation until 1904. Within the Kultusprotektorat (the cult protectorate as right that Austria had to be the protector of the Catholic population of Albania) gave help for the development of Albanian education in the vilayet of Shkodra. In 1912–1913, during the Conference of Ambassadors in London (1913), he served as an adviser to Count Mensdorf. He tried to reach a solution as favorable as possible to the border issue for the independent Albanian state. During his stay in Albania and afterwards he became interested in Albanian history, tracing the medieval monuments. It is worth mentioning his works “Beiträge zur inneren Geschichte Albaniens im XIX Jahrhundert” (“Contributions to the internal history of Albania in the XIX century”), published in “Illyrisch-Albanische Forschungen” (I Band, 1916), “Deux episodes de l’histoire de l’Albanie” (“Two episodes from the history of Albania”, published in “Albania”, 1927, 2), “Skutari und Nordalbanische Kustenebene” (“Shkodra and the coastal lowlands of Northern Albania”, Sarajevo, 1907) etc. He passed away in Vienna in 1935. (Photo: Theodor Ippen)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 2 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2009, pages 1046-1047.
Photo: © https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Anton_Ippen
Graphic processing: AHCF
