WINNERS OF ANNUAL « EUROPEAN UNION PRIZE FOR
CULTURAL HERITAGE / EUROPA NOSTRA AWARDS » ANNOUNCED

Awards will be presented by H.M. Queen Sofía of Spain at Palacio Real de El Pardo, Madrid

The Hague, 13 March 2006: The European Commission and Europa Nostra – the pan-European Federation for Heritage – today announced the five top Prizes of the annual European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards.

The Awards will be presented to the laureates at the annual European Heritage Awards Ceremony, to be held in June at the Palacio Real de El Pardo in Madrid. This prestigious event – with the participation of Europa Nostra’s President, HRH the Prince Consort of Denmark and Ján Figel’, Member of the European Commission responsible for Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism – will be presided over by H.M. Queen Sofía of Spain, who is Patron of Hispania Nostra, Europa Nostra’s country representation in Spain.

A total of 214 applications and nominations received in various categories were assessed by independent experts and evaluated by the Heritage Awards Juries in recent months. The range of exemplary initiatives submitted illustrate the many facets of Europe’s cultural heritage, ranging from the restoration of buildings and sites, their adaptation to new uses, new building projects in conservation areas, urban and rural landscape rehabilitation, to archaeological sites, care for collections, outstanding research and dedicated service to heritage conservation.

The European Heritage Awards were jointly launched in 2002 by Europa Nostra and the European Commission, in the framework of the Commission’s Culture 2000 programme, to recognise best practices in heritage conservation on a European level. The aims of this Awards Scheme are three-fold: to promote high standards in conservation practice, to stimulate transboundary exchanges of knowledge and skills, and to encourage further exemplary initiatives in the field of cultural heritage.

The five top Prizes, which each include a monetary award of €10,000, will be presented in the following categories:

Conservation of Architectural Heritage: to the 16th century Omeriye Ottoman Baths, Nicosia (Cyprus) located in one of the most neglected areas of the walled city. Their restoration and modernisation enabled to retain the traditional use, and has greatly contributed to upgrading the building environment and to preserving and promoting the multicultural character of the city.

Conservation of Cultural Landscapes: to the Vía de la Plata, Extremadura (Spain), an initiative carried out by the Ministry of Culture of the Regional Government on a portion of an ancient Roman road, aiming to raise appreciation for heritage and stimulating economic development. The project includes the rehabilitation of thirty-two characteristic monuments to provide various tourism or recreational facilities.

Conservation of Works of Art: to the Edward Chambré Hardman Photographic Collection, Liverpool (United Kingdom). The entire lifetime output - in excess of 142,000 images - of an internationally renowned portrait photographer are in the process of being catalogued, digitised, conserved and have been made accessible to view in his former house and studio, offering a unique insight into Liverpool and its people during the mid 20th century.

Outstanding Studies: to Dr Anna Sulimowska-Ociepka and the Technical University of Silesia for her PhD thesis on the Old Workers’ Estates in Upper Silesia (Poland) built by the coal industry in the 19th and early 20th centuries, which defines a typology, establishes their significance and proposes a much needed strategy for their revitalisation.

Dedicated Service to Heritage Conservation: to the Maisons Paysannes de France, a non-profit, non-governmental organisation founded in 1965 with a membership of 10,000, which strives to disseminate and preserve skills and know-how in the restoration of built rural heritage through a panoply of programmes.

In addition to the five top Prizes, nine Medals (2nd Prize) and seventeen Diplomas (3rd Prize) will be awarded to the following achievements:

Austria: Kastner-Oehler Wahrenhaus, Graz (Diploma); Belgium: Maison Autrique, Brussels (Medal); Grange de l’Abbaye de Ter Doest, Lisseweg (Diploma); Bulgaria: ICOMOS Bulgaria (Diploma); Croatia: Rab Cathedral (Diploma); Czech Republic: Collection of Medieval wood panel paintings by Master Theodoric, Chapel of the Holy Rood, Karlštejn Castle (Diploma); Estonia: Tallinn Town-Hall (Medal); France: Château des Aix, Meillard (Diploma); Greece: Unification and Enhancement of the Archaeological Sites around the Acropolis, Athens (Diploma); Arcadian Gate and City Wall, Messene (Diploma); Hungary: Uránia National Film Theatre, Budapest (Diploma); Ireland: The Honourable Desmond Guinness (Medal); The Palm House Complex, Dublin (Medal); Italy: Teatro alla Scala, Milan (Medal); Church of Santa Marta, Venice (Diploma); Cultura e Sviluppo del Territorio. Risorse, Metodologie ed Esperienze Formative. Alta Formazione per la Valorizzazione dei Beni Culturali e Ambientali nella Provincia di Reggio Calabria by A. Pellicanò (Diploma); Malta: Valletta Waterfront (Medal); Portugal: Museum, Church and Cemetery of Luz (Diploma); Russian Federation: Paanajärvi, Karelia (Medal); Serbia and Montenegro: Final Report of the Mnemosyne Centre on the project Urgent Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage in Metohija (Medal); Spain: Collection of 17th and 18th century Plaster Casts, Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid (Medal); Dome of the Basilica de la Virgen de los Desemparados, Valencia (Diploma); Sweden: Cultural Heritage without Borders (Medal); Switzerland: Hernergut Bathing Pavillion, Horgen (Medal); Turkey/Greece: Common Cultural Heritage: Development of Local Awareness Concerning the Architectural Heritage Left from the Exchange of Populations in Turkey and Greece (Diploma); United Kingdom: Heather and Hillforts Landscape Partnership Scheme, by Denbighshire County Council (Medal); Birmingham Back to Backs (Diploma); 78-80 Derngate, Northampton (Diploma); Dolbelydr, North Wales (Diploma).

For more information on the Awards, please go to www.europanostra.org/awards_2006.html or contact:

Charlotte O'Connor, Communications Officer, Europa Nostra Tel. +31 70 302 4055 co@europanostra.org

Eléonore de Merode, Heritage Awards Co-ordinator, Europa Nostra, Tel +31 70 302 4052 ao@europanostra.org

Europa Nostra, the pan-European Federation for Heritage, is the representative platform of over 200 heritage NGOs active throughout Europe. It is the voice of this vast movement of European civil society active in the field of heritage towards international bodies concerned, in particular the European Union Institutions, the Council of Europe and UNESCO. Europa Nostra is dedicated to putting heritage and its benefits in the mainstream of public consciousness and to making heritage a priority for public policies both at European and national levels. Its specific objectives are to promote, at a European level, high standards of quality in the fields of heritage conservation, architecture, urban and rural planning and to advocate a balanced and sustainable development of urban and rural, built and natural environment. Europa Nostra supports national and international campaigns for the preservation and rescue of Europe’s heritage at risk. It encourages exemplary initiatives in favour of the conservation and enhancement of cultural heritage by recognising outstanding heritage achievements, in particular through the running of the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards. Through its various activities, Europa Nostra seeks to highlight the importance of cultural heritage as a building block of European identity and as a contribution to the strengthening of the sense of European citizenship. www.europanostra.org