The Ethnographic Museum is located in Palorto, the best preserved district of the old town of Gjirokaster. The museum is located on the site of the house of Enver Hoxha, communist dictator of Albania from 1944 to 1985. The museum building was built in 1966 after the original house was destroyed by fire. The house has four floors, which are all open to the public. The rooms are decorated with numerous household items, folk costumes and cultural artefacts typical of a rich family of Gjirokastra merchants or Ottoman administrators who lived in the 19th century.