The winners of the European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards 2022 were celebrated on the evening of 26 September with a grand ceremony held at the iconic State Opera of Prague. The ceremony was co-hosted by Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, and Hermann Parzinger, Executive President of Europa Nostra.
Cecilia Bartoli, the recently appointed President of Europa Nostra, sent an enthusiastic video message warmly congratulating this year’s winners of our awards.
The high representatives from the European Commission and Europa Nostra proudly announced the five Grand Prix laureates and the Public Choice Award winner. The 2022 Public Choice Award went to the initiative World Vyshyvanka Day, Ukraine, an annual holiday celebrated internationally that helps preserve the iconic Ukrainian embroidered shirt (vyshyvanka) as an important element of the heritage of the Ukrainian people (photo above).
At the end of the ceremony, the following special guests were welcomed on stage: Kostas Bakoyannis, Mayor of Athens, Kateryna Chuyeva, Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, as well as the renowned Ukrainian conductor, Oksana Lyniv, laureate of our 2022 Helena Vaz da Silva European Award for Raising Public Awareness on Cultural Heritage.
The ceremony assembled some 600 heritage professionals, volunteers, lovers and supporters from across Europe, including a large group of young people who attended the Future is Heritage Summit.
According to Hermann Parzinger, Executive President, the summit brought together hundreds of heritage stakeholders, policy-makers at all levels of governance, civil society organisations as well as heritage heroes and enthusiasts, including young people and emerging professionals, from all across Europe and beyond.
“We have mobilised Europe’s heritage ecosystem to jointly act for a more peaceful, beautiful and sustainable future. In the face of so many pressing challenges, including the deplorable invasion of Ukraine by Russia which Europa Nostra firmly condemns, we are indeed ever more convinced of the urgent need to place Europe’s common values and shared cultural heritage at the very heart of our democracies and of what brings us together. The Prague Manifesto “For a Value-based and Culture-driven Europe” – to be issued next week – will capture and widely disseminate the key policy messages conveyed during the Summit”.