Brussels, 14/05/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 8 May, the European Commission decided to award the prize of €1,000 to each of six projects for the safeguard of European cultural heritage. The projects were developed in the Czech Republic, Greece, the Netherlands and Romania. The “European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage/Europa Nostra Awards”, launched in 2002, serve as recognition for outstanding projects in the fields of conservation, research and education. They are jointly awarded by the European Commission and Europa Nostra, the pan-European federation for cultural heritage. They will be presented at the European Heritage Awards ceremony on 12 June 2008 in Durham Cathedral, in the UK.
The European heritage awards celebrate outstanding initiatives among the many facets of Europe's cultural heritage in categories ranging from the restoration of buildings and their adaptation to new uses, to urban and rural landscape rehabilitation, archaeological site interpretations, and care for art collections. Also awarded are prizes for research and, for the first time in 2008, education projects related to cultural heritage and dedicated service to heritage conservation by individuals or organisations. This year, a total of 109 applications and nominations from 29 countries were received in the various categories and assessed in situ by independent experts. The most outstanding of these were selected by the heritage awards jury in a series of meetings which have taken place over past months.
The six prizes awarded last Thursday were for: - the conservation of the southern façade of Horní Hrad (Upper Castle) of the Ceský Krumlov State Castle, Czech Republic; - the conservation of the archaeological site of Skarkos on the island of Ios in Greece; - the restoration and adaptive re-use of the Van Nelle Factory in Rotterdam; - the inventory of the fortified military architecture in Spain by the Asociación Española de Amigos de los Castillos, Spain (research category); - a very successful example of civil society's involvement in safeguarding Europe's historic city centres by the Stichting Stadsherstel Hoorn, the Netherlands (category: exemplary contribution to heritage conservation); - the project for training for conservation and conservation through training developed by the International Built Heritage Conservation Training Centre at Bánffy Castle in Bonþida, Romania (education, training and awareness category). In addition to the six first prizes, 21 medals (2nd prize) will also be awarded. (O.L.)