The well-known Albanian professor of calligraphy, Shyqyri Nimani, who is also the drafter of the Declaration of Independence of Kosovo, has passed away at the age of 82.

Nimani was a painter, graphic designer and lecturer. He was known throughout the Albanian space for the hand calligraphy on the parchment of the Declaration of Kosovo Independence, in 2008.

Nimani was born in Shkodër on May 6, 1941 in a family from Gjakova that moved to Albania before the Second World War, the son of Ramiz Shyqri Nimani and Hatmane Batusha; his father had been an officer of the Albanian Kingdom. He completed the High School of Art in Peja with great success. He graduated from the Academy of Applied Arts in Belgrade in 1967, with a maximum grade.

He completed his postgraduate studies in 1969 at the same Academy and then worked as a professor at the Faculty of Arts in Pristina. In the years 1976-1978 he stayed in Japan as a scholarship holder of the Japanese government for artistic research. In the years 1979-1989, he was the director of the Art Gallery of Kosovo.

He was also dean of the Faculty of Arts from 1991-1994. He was involved in painting, graphics, design and other disciplines of visual arts. He has published monographs on medieval and contemporary Albanian art. He has also translated books from foreign languages.